Sha Zukang (
Speaking to Taiwanese reporters at the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's highest decision-making body, Sha noted that the memorandum is the first China has ever signed with an international organization to handle the cross-strait problem.
The memorandum, signed by China and the WHO Secretariat last Saturday, stipulates that Taiwan has to apply for the WHO's technical assistance through China and that all exchanges between Taiwan and the WHO have to be approved by Beijing.
Neither China nor the WHO Secretariat consulted Taiwan over the contents of the memorandum, in which Taiwan is treated as a part of China. Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it will never accept the memorandum if the document denigrates Taiwan's national status in any way.
Sha, however, argued that the contents of such memorandums are often kept secret.
"We will inform Taiwan of the details of the memo through proper channels in due course. We haven't done that yet," Sha said. "Only China and Taiwan can solve cross-strait problems."
Chinese Minister of Health Gao Qiang (高強) was to hold a press conference yesterday evening to explain the details of the memorandum.
The memorandum is significant for Taiwan because "diseases do not wait for political problems to be solved," Sha said.
Those comments were in marked contrast to Sha's harsh response to Taiwan's SARS problem in 2003. Two years ago, while Taiwan was struggling to contain the SARS epidemic, Sha snapped at Taiwanese reporters as they approached him in that year's WHA, saying: "Who cares about you?"
Meanwhile, a group of Taiwanese, including doctors, nurses and Aborigines, staged a protest yesterday morning outside the Palais des Nations in Geneva -- where the WHA is meeting -- against the WHO's isolation of Taiwan
Holding banners with slogans in several languages appealing for support for Taiwan's bid to join the WHO, the Taiwanese sang songs, including a song named Victory for Taiwan
It was cold and rainy in Geneva yesterday, but the bad weather did not douse the Taiwanese campaigners' passion for the WHO bid.
Members of the North America Taiwanese Women's Association (NATWA) also went to the Chinese embassy in Geneva around 30 minutes before the opening of the WHA to protest against China's obstruction of Taiwan's WHO bid.
They handed a letter to the embassy requesting that China relent in its opposition to Taiwan's bid. Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission Minister Chang Fu-mei (
"China always lies to the international community about how Beijing has taken care of the Taiwanese people's health. We feel very bad about that and hope China understands our feelings," Chang said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
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