President Chen Shui-bian (
"The 23 million Taiwanese people should neither be separated from the international community nor be unable to serve its obligation to international organizations," Chen said when receiving a senior Norwegian congressional delegation.
"We also have to express our appreciation to congressmen from five Nordic countries, who recently acknowledged Taiwan's democratic achievements and during a teleconference last month promised to facilitate their governments' support for Taiwan's bid," Chen said.
Chen received Carl Hagen, chairman of Norway's right-wing Progress Party, at the Presidential Office. The president said that Taiwan should have a voice in the world health regulatory body and he hoped Hagen could use his clout to push the Norwegian government to support Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.
"Only in this way can Taiwan contribute its experience and resources to world health development as well as the global epidemic control network, in which there now exists a hole due to Taiwan's absence," Chen said.
The WHA -- the WHO's governing body -- will convene its annual conference in Geneva next week and Taiwan's special delegation, led by Minister of Health Chen Chien-jen (
Previous efforts failed seven times because of Beijing's strong opposition.
According to the government's Ministry of Health, though it is not optimistic that Taiwan will achieve its goal, it is more likely this year that a vote may be held to decide Taiwan's application in the name of a sovereign health entity.
Chen said to Hagen that he hoped, if Norway could not express its explicit support for Taiwan's bid, it should at least refrain from speaking against the bid.
Meanwhile, Chen also promised that his inauguration speech will satisfy the expectations of both the domestic and international communities.
"Some people from the foreign and domestic communities continue to make suggestions to me about what I should or should not say in my speech," Chen said at a meeting with congressmen from the Netherlands.
"It has become a severe challenge and test for me. However, I am confident that I will deliver my new speech with wisdom and creativity to the approval of the majority of the domestic community as well as the broader international community," he said.
Chen also thanked the government of the Netherlands for adopting a parliamentary resolution last December proposing that the EU lift the bans restricting Taiwan's top government officials from visiting European countries, as well as maintaining the international weapons embargo against China.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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