Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延) yesterday gave a five-minute speech at the 69th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, addressing Taiwan’s experiences in launching a national health insurance program, disease prevention and legislation for a better medical environment.
However, he used “Chinese Taipei” rather than “Taiwan” throughout his speech, and did not address the controversy over WHO Director-General Margaret Chan’s (陳馮富珍) invitation to this year’s WHA meeting, which mentioned Bejiing’s “one China” principle.
He gave the speech in English, in an apparent bid to circumvent any effort by China to influence reporting on his comments.
Photo: CNA
Lin told the assembly that the National Health Insurance program has a coverage rate of 99.9 percent of the nation’s population and a public satisfaction rate of more than 80 percent, while the nation’s life expectancy was 80 years and the nation’s infant mortality rate was 3.6 per 1,000 live births.
He also mentioned Taiwan’s challenges of rapid population aging, overloaded healthcare workers and an increasing number of medical disputes; and how they are being dealt with by passing amendments to relevant laws.
Addressing Taiwan’s effort to help prevent global spread of infectious diseases, Lin mentioned organizing international workshops to help improve regional capability for responding to Ebola, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), dengue and the Zika virus.
“We hope to work even more closely with WHO and other international institutes to strengthen the global health security,” he said.
Lin ended his speech by calling on the “WHO and its member states, to support the 23 million citizens of Chinese Taipei” by facilitating their robust participation in WHA-related meetings and activities.
“Then no one will be left behind,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), who was in the audience, said he regretted that Lin did not use the name “Taiwan” in his speech.
In a Facebook post, New Party Power Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐), who is also in Geneva with Taiwan’s delegation to the WHA, voiced his discontent with Lin’s use of the term “Chinese Taipei.”
“While several of our diplomatic allies have supported us by calling us ‘Taiwan’ rather than the downgraded name ‘Chinese Taipei,’ Lin called us by ‘Chinese Taipei’ throughout his speech. This is just so disappointing,” Lim wrote. “Taiwan is Taiwan, not Chinese Taipei! They already gave you the microphone and allowed you to speak, and you still call yourself Chinese Taipei in an international meeting… It’s so disappointing!”
The Ministry of Health and Welfare earlier yesterday said that the Taiwanese delegation had held bilateral talks with 40 countries and international organizations on the sidelines of the WHA, including one with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell.
During his meeting with Burwell, Lin expressed gratitude to the US for firmly supporting Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, and urged the US to continue providing assistance in supporting the nation’s bid to join in WHO’s meetings, events and mechanisms, the ministry said.
They also discussed cooperation on Zika vaccination, the Global Health Security Agenda, obesity prevention, noncommunicable disease prevention and the hope that a partnership with the US can be long and stable, the ministry said.
The Centers for Diseases Control is to also share Taiwan’s disease prevention experiences with a technical meeting at the WHA and voice the nation’s willingness to join the WHO’s Emergency Response Framework to support international society, the ministry said.
As the head of China’s delegation, National Health and Family Planning Commission Chairperson Li Bin (李斌), left Geneva on Tuesday, it is unlikely that there would be sideline talks between Taiwan and China during the rest of the meeting, the ministry said.
Additional reporting by CNA
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from
RESOLVE: The increased expenditure, if approved by the legislature, would likely see Taipei buying more defense articles from Washington, reducing its trade surplus The government aims to increase defense spending to at least 3 percent of GDP this year, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, hours after US President Donald Trump again threatened tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors. At a news conference in Taipei following his first high-level national security meeting this year, Lai said the government would propose a special budget this year to increase the nation’s defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP. “Taiwan must firmly safeguard its national sovereignty, strengthen its resolve for self-defense and bolster its defense capabilities,” he said. The president also vowed to double down on defense reforms and
RSS