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.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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