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.
‘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
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
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
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
RSS