Taiwan's WHO bid received a boost yesterday as the US and Japan both voiced support for Taiwan's participation in the international health organization.
The Secretary of US Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson expressed support for Taiwan's efforts to gain observer status to the World Health Assembly (WHA), saying the US would not shrink from taking a public stance on the controversial issue.
"America's work for a healthy world also cuts across political lines. That is why my government supports Taiwan's efforts to gain observership status to the World Health Assembly," Thompson said during a luncheon talk under the invitation of the World Medical Association (WMA).
"We know that this is a controversial issue, but we do not shrink from taking a public stance on it," said Thompson in front of a roomful of medical professionals as well as health ministers from various countries at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva.
"The people of Taiwan, like everybody else, deserve the same level of public health of citizens of every nation on earth, and we support them in their efforts in achieving it," Thompson added.
The meeting took place concurrently with the week-long annual meeting of the WHA, the WHO's highest decision-making body.
Department of Health Head Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) said Thomp-son's statement is a constructive step toward Taiwan's bid despite the fact that the WHA on Monday decided not to include Taiwan's application on the assembly agenda's for a sixth year in a row.
"His statement this year here in Geneva is much better than what he said here last year. Last year he only said he supported Taiwan `playing a role' in WHO activities during a question-and-answer session in a local press club in Geneva," Lee said.
"This year he spelled out his government's stance on supporting Taiwan to gain observer status here in Geneva," Lee said.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kao (高英茂) said that Taiwan had hoped that Washington would inform Taipei in advance of Thompson's talk, but the US State Department has apparently taken a rather cautious move by instructing the US delegation not to do so.
Lee said the US had told Taiwan to take a gradual approach to the country's WHO bid because the US concluded that it was not conceivable for Taiwan to gain enough votes from WHO member countries to support its bid.
Taiwan has hoped that Thompson would express US support for Taipei's bid during one of the WHA meetings in Geneva, such as the US health minister's formal address during the general discussion of the WHA meeting yesterday.
But as of press time yesterday, Thompson had not done so.
Meanwhile, J. B. Brunet, a high-ranking French official, told Kao that France's statement during the WHA steering committee's closed-door meeting on Taiwan's case on Monday adhered to the European nation's "one China" policy.
Meanwhile, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda reportedly expressed Japan's support for Taiwan's bid.
Fukuda said at a press conference held after a routine Cabinet meeting that since Taiwan is geographically close to Japan, the Japanese government is interested in any efforts that would help raise Taiwan's standard of health care.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS