The World Health Organization (WHO) invited PFP Legislator Kao Ming-chien (
Kao was among the last group of experts recommended by China to the WHO to join the conference and most experts of the group on the same list were from China's Shanxi and Hebei Provinces, where SARS cases have been reported, sources said.
Taiwan's delegation to Kuala Lumpur, headed by Director of Center for Disease Control (CDC) Su Ih-jen (
Before the delegation's departure for Malaysia, the Cabinet clearly stated that Kao was not a member of the delegation. Kao arrived at Kuala Lumpur yesterday, whereas the government's delegation arrived on Sunday.
The two-day SARS conference kicks off today in Malaysia's Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel, close to the nation's capital city Kuala Lumpur. Participants from 192 countries will be joining the conference on the 21st century's first emerging disease.
The Department of Health recommended four Taiwanese experts to attend the conference. The WHO accepted all four.
Two of them, Chang Shang-chwen (
The doctors lost their opportunity to attend the conference, however, because they -- after having handled SARS patients -- did not have enough time to isolate themselves for 10 days to fulfill the conference's health regulations for participants from affected areas.
The other two experts recommended by the government to attend the conference are Su and Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an Academia Sinica researcher. Both were invited to speak at the conference.
Sources said high-ranking officials at the Geneva-based WHO headquarters informed the Taiwanese government that a fifth Taiwanese expert would be invited to the conference without the government's recommendation several weeks before the event.
"The WHO's decision-making process to invite the Taiwanese experts to the conference was so complicated that WHO Director-General [Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland] had to get personally involved to settle the issue," the official said.
The WHO's invitation letters to the four Taiwanese experts to join the conference were e-mailed to Beijing on June 6. The Beijing-based Chinese Medical Association delivered the letters to Taiwan last Tuesday, sources said.
Upon receiving the letters, the DOH asked the WHO to change the contents of the letters because they indicated that Taiwan was a part of China. The WHO then sent another set of invitations directly to the experts on Wednesday.
"By the second time the WHO sent its invitations to Taiwan, it was already too late for Chang and Chen to isolate themselves," a source said.
"If the WHO had directly sent the letters to Taiwan on June 6, the doctors would have been able to attend the conference," the source added.
The WHO's invitation to Kao reached Taiwan on Thursday and indicated in French that Taiwan was a province of China.
Kao, who did not move to ask the WHO to alter his invitation letter, said upon his arrival at Kuala Lumpur that the conference should focus on technical rather than political issues.
The Taiwanese delegation is prepared for China to introduce Kao as a member of its delegation at the conference to manifest its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.
Su said the Taiwanese delegation is prepared for any action China may take at the conference that will affect Taiwan's national status.
China may list Taiwan as one of its provinces in today's morning conference session entitled "National Response" or Chinese experts may attempt to answer participants' questions about Taiwan's SARS outbreak.
The Taiwanese delegation planned to hold an international press conference immediately after today's "National Response" session to clarify Taiwan's status if China claimed Taiwan as one of its provinces in its SARS report, officials said.
Also see stories:
331 deaths re-checked for SARS
Team finds Hoping did not cover up SARS cases
Su Ih-jen scores small victory at SARS talks
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
RSS