The US Department of State on Tuesday voiced its strong support for Taiwan’s participation in the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting as an observer, after the nation failed to receive an invitation to attend this year.
“The United States recognizes Taiwan’s continued leadership on global health issues and continues to strongly support Taiwan’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly,” Bureau for East Asian and Pacific Affairs spokesperson Grace Choi said.
Choi was answering questions about Taiwan’s setback in seeking to attend this year’s meeting, which is to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 22 to 31.
Taiwan did not receive an invitation from the WHO by the Monday deadline for online registration because of Chinese obstruction.
The WHA is the WHO’s decisionmaking body.
Even though it has not been invited, Taipei said it plans to send a delegation to Geneva for the duration of the 10-day session.
In response to media queries over whether the US would meet the Taiwanese delegation on the sidelines of the meeting, and if there had been cooperation or communication between Taipei and Washington by which the two nations could share information or data on global health, Choi declined to comment.
However, the US has welcomed Taiwan’s participation as an observer at the past eight WHA meetings, she said.
Reiterating Washington’s stance, Choi said the US government encourages authorities in Taipei and Beijing to engage in constructive dialogue on the basis of dignity and respect.
“We continue to urge patience, flexibility and creativity on both sides,” she said.
In Geneva, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said the matter of Taiwan’s participation is not yet resolved.
“Officially the deadline has passed, but yet it is my understanding that discussions are still ongoing and we are also on our side waiting for any developments,” he said.
Lindmeier’s remarks leave some room for Taiwan to attend the meeting, according to an Agence-France Presse report.
The British parliament’s British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group co-chair Lord Steel of Aikwood asked his government to support Taiwan’s bid to attend the WHA meeting.
In a letter to British Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt, Lord Steel asked the British government to “show its continued support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the WHA, by writing to Dr Margaret Chan [陳馮富珍], Director-General of the WHO, urging the WHO Secretariat against serving the interest of any particular country and to issue an invitation to Taiwan in a timely manner.”
“The WHO needs Taiwan to build a robust global health system and Taiwan needs WHO as well,” he said.
Taiwan’s constructive participation in the WHO over the past eight years has enabled the nation to share experiences with other countries, to report and receive disease prevention information promptly, and to better contribute to health worldwide, he said.
Lord Steel last month led a delegation of British parliamentarians to Taiwan, meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and health officials to promote bilateral ties.
Taiwan attended WHA meetings as an observer from 2009 to last year, under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
The exclusion of Taiwan from this year’s meeting is widely seen as the latest move by China to clamp down on Taiwan’s international participation, a strategy that has become more aggressive since Tsai took power in May last year.
‘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
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
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
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