President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday that he favored a bid for the country’s World Health Assembly (WHA) observer status with the name “Chinese Taipei.”
“There is no better name than ‘Chinese Taipei’ for the moment,” Ma said in an interview with the state-owned Central News Agency (CNA) yesterday.
The WHA, the WHO’s governing body, is scheduled to open May 19 in Geneva, one day before Ma’s inauguration. It is seen as the first crucial test of the relationship between China and Ma’s administration.
Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said last week that applying to become an observer at the WHA is this year’s “first priority,” and the name the country should use had yet to be determined.
But Ma told the CNA yesterday that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had recently asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare a bid to apply for WHO full membership under the name Taiwan.
Ma said he strongly opposed the idea of application for full membership under the name Taiwan, a strategy the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government adopted last year. Ma referred to the DPP’s approach as a “total embarrassment,” that resulted in a WHO delegate of an allied country avoiding the vote on the application under the pretext of having diarrhea.
“It is expected that applying for WHO membership in the name ‘Taiwan’ is doomed to fail. It’s unfair to us that Chen gave such an order,” Ma said, adding the DPP government is stepping down soon and it should not push hard for the WHO full membership proposal under the name Taiwan.
When asked about the name issue in the interview yesterday, Ma said, “Has there been any success [in joining international organizations] by using any names other than ‘Chinese Taipei?’ Except for the even worse ‘Taipei, China,’ is there a more acceptable name than ‘Chinese Taipei?’”
Referring to the title Taiwan uses in the International Olympic Committee and the WTO, Ma said he believes that “Chinese Taipei” is workable, noting that even Beijing has not objected to that name.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS