Taiwan will lodge a protest against medical journal The Lancet after it published a paper that lists Taiwan as a province of China, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said on Thursday.
The paper, authored by a Chinese research team and titled “Mortality, Morbidity and Risk Factors in China and its Provinces, 1990-2017: a Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017,” mainly covers “34” provincial-level divisions in China, with Taiwan in charts attached to it.
Ministry spokesman Wang Che-chao (王哲超) said that it would file a protest and demand that the journal issue a correction, but did not elaborate on how or when the ministry would do so.
The contents of the study are inconsistent with the fact that Taiwan is not a province of China, Wang said.
Taiwan has its own, independent disease-prevention system, he said.
The Taiwan Medical Association said in a statement that the paper has strayed from the truth, as Taiwan and China have separate medical systems.
Listing Taiwan as a province of China shows that the paper seeks to denigrate Taiwan, the association said.
It is deeply regrettable that The Lancet, a professional, peer-reviewed journal, published the study, which might be detrimental to the journal’s credibility, it said.
The paper says it scales estimates for the “34 provinces of China” to match the separately estimated all-cause mortality for China as a whole.
Hong Kong and Macau were not included in the scaling process because their data collection processes are separate from China, it said.
The Lancet posted a link to the study on its Facebook page on Tuesday, prompting comments demanding that the journal change its designation of Taiwan.
Some comments asked the journal to withdraw the paper, saying that its methodology is problematic.
The Lancet on Thursday wrote that it stands by the study.
The paper follows the guidelines and protocols of the UN and WHO, which refer to Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic of China, it said.
“This makes the study consistent with other international health analyses. Unless and until such guidelines and protocols are changed, there are no plans to alter such references to Taiwan,” it said.
The paper was written with scientific rigor and thorough data analysis required by the editors of The Lancet, it said. A hierarchical analytical model was employed, utilizing empirical data sources that include all available and relevant vital and civil registrations, census information, scientific literature and other information.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
RSS