Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) called on the international community yesterday to defend the right of Taiwanese reporters to cover this year’s WHA meeting, which opens in Geneva on May 19.
“Regardless of how China opposes Taiwan on the international stage, a free press should not be made the victim of an international political dispute,” he said.
“The UN and WHO should not allow political considerations to supersede press freedom and the spirit of journalistic independence,” he said.
Since 2004, the UN Office in Geneva has repeatedly rejected applications from Taiwanese journalists for press credentials to cover the WHA because Taiwan is not a member of the WHO.
Codex Politics, a political information Web site, on Wednesday published an article by Shieh titled “Protecting a Free Press Requires International Cooperation.”
In the article, Shieh appealed to international organizations to lift discriminatory bans and ensure Taiwanese journalists receive WHA press passes this year.
“Freedom of the press is a universal value that transcends politics,” he said.
“The right to know and freedom of the press should not be limited by national borders and freedom of the press should not be held to be the prerogative of WHO members states,” he said.
The denial of press freedom to Taiwanese reporters is a clear indication that the health rights of Taiwanese and their right to know are being violated for political reasons, Shieh said.
The WHO and the UN, which champion global equity and human rights, should respect the rights of the 23 million people of Taiwan to health and information, he said.
“The [UN] ban prevents Taiwan’s reporters from doing their duty to satisfy Taiwanese people’s right to know,” he said.
Since 1997, Taiwan has been bidding to re-enter the WHO by applying for observer status at the WHA, the organization’s highest decision-making body, but these attempts have been blocked by Beijing.
The country was forced to leave the WHO in 1972, one year after the Republic of China, one of the founding members of the UN and the WHO, forfeited its UN seat.
The WHO has weakened its own epidemic prevention mechanism and created a loophole in the global health network by barring Taiwanese journalists from reporting on the annual WHA meetings, Sheih said.
“If the international community were to turn a blind eye to actions by main instigator China to have such a policy continued, it would threaten the global disease prevention network,” he said.
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