Taiwan can serve as an international contributing member to promote and actualize the WHO’s goal of universal health coverage, a group of civic organizations said in Taipei yesterday as they urged the nation’s participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) in light of a global health crisis caused by the outbreak of a new coronavirus infection in China.
Taiwanese authorities have not been invited to emergency meetings held by the WHO about the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, due to the body’s affiliation with the UN, which does not recognize Taiwan.
Critics have argued that Taiwan’s exclusion could make it a “blind spot” in the international response, and governments including the US, Japan and Canada, as well as the EU, expressed support for Taiwan’s participation in the body.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Representatives of Taiwan United Nations Alliance president Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said that the group has lodged protests during several WHA meetings in Geneva, Switzerland.
He is more optimistic this year and hopes that a vote could be held at the WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, for member states to show their support for Taiwan’s participation, he said.
Tsai made the remarks during a visit to the Legislative Yuan along with representatives from the Global Taiwanese Medical Alliance to appeal to the legislative caucuses to pass a legislative resolution calling on the WHO to invite Taiwan to the WHA.
The resolution should protest China’s efforts to exclude Taiwan from the WHO, support Taiwan’s attendance at the world body and urge the WHO to remove Taiwan from China’s epidemic area, because Taiwan is not part of China, they said in a written petition.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Hsiu-fang (黃秀芳), who accompanied the groups, said that all four legislative caucuses responded positively to the petition.
“Now is a very good time for Taiwan to ask for WHO participation, because some countries still do not understand the relationship between Taiwan and China during the global 2019-nCoV outbreak,” she said.
“We should let them know that Taiwan is Taiwan, not China, and that by attending the WHO, Taiwan could contribute to global healthcare by sharing its excellent healthcare experiences,” she added.
In related news, more than 200,000 people have signed an online petition urging the WHO chief to resign his post over his handling of the outbreak.
“We strongly think Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is not fit for his role as WHO director general. We call for the Immediate Resignation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,” said the petition initiated on Friday by Osuka Yip on Change.org.
“On January 23rd, 2020, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declines to declare China virus outbreak as a global health emergency. As we all know, the coronavirus is not treatable at the moment. The number of infected and deaths has risen more than 10 times (infected from 800 - close to 10,000) within only five days. Part of it is related to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus underestimated the coronavirus,” it said.
The WHO did not declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern until Friday.
Additional reporting by CNA
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS