The Presidential Office yesterday tried to downplay expectations after reports that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that the country might join the World Health Assembly (WHA) next year, adding that it was the administration’s policy to work toward that goal.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that the aggressive approach adopted by the former Democratic Progressive Party administration over the past eight years had proven unfeasible and impractical.
With the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in power, a more flexible strategy will be used, Wang said.
The odds of joining the international body should be higher as a result of the new government’s approach, he said.
As Ma has said that “Chinese Taipei” would be a suitable name to apply to the body, Wang yesterday said that the proposed name was an option and that it could be the bottom line.
“But the bottom line is not necessarily the name we will use,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be responsible for mapping out a plan for application.
Wang made the remarks in response to reports published in several Chinese-language newspapers quoting Ma as saying that there should be hope for Taiwan to participate in the WHA next year. Ma made the remarks during a visit to the ministry on Monday.
Wang said yesterday that Ma was merely talking about the change of foreign policy and he expected to see the ministry formulate concrete measures and put them into practice.
Ma’s foreign policy of modus vivendi is working, Wang said, and improvements in cross-strait relations were proof.
Under a foreign policy based on “reconciliation” and “diplomatic truce” with Beijing and improvement of cross-strait relations, Wang said it was foreseeable that the odds of joining the WHA would better.
However, he did not mention the campaign to join the WHO.
Since 1997, Taiwan has sought to re-enter the organization by applying for observer status at the WHA, the supreme decision-making body of the WHO.
Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po newspaper reported that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Chairman Wang Yi (王毅) had said that although China would continue to block Taiwan’s applications to the WHO, it would look into setting up an international network that would be a “new framework” independent of the WHO to include Taiwan in information on disease outbreaks.
Ma announced last night during a state banquet held for Nauruan President Marcus Stephen that the third Taiwan-South Pacific Allies leaders’ summit will be canceled.
Citing “time constraints,” Ma said the event, scheduled to take place in Kaohsiung this year, will be held in the Solomon Islands next year.
The summit, established by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), was first held in Palau in 2006.
The country has six Pacific allies.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS