Taiwan, like Canada, is a multicultural nation. Its residents migrated mainly from the South Pacific islands and the southern coast of China during the 13th and the 17th to 19th centuries. For nearly 400 years, Taiwan has been subject to the Dutch, Spanish, Kingdom of Tungning, Qing Dynasty, Japanese and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) regimes. It was not until the first presidential election in 1996 that Taiwanese truly moved toward democracy.
Taiwan is an independent nation with solid borders, an effective government and diplomatic relations. It shares the same values of democracy, freedom, rule of law and human rights as Canada. It is the 22nd-largest economy in the world and the 12th-largest trading partner of Canada.
Taiwan received the highest ranking in this year’s Health Care Index by Country from the crowd-sourced global database Numbeo, with a score of 86.71, while last year, CEOWORLD Magazine ranked it highest in its Health Care Index.
Taiwan also leads in technology, biology, chemistry and engineering sectors.
Taiwan is internationally renowned for its reputation on political rights and civil liberties, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has publicly praised it as a democratic success story, a reliable partner and a force for good.
However, as China rises to power, it seeks to impose its so-called “one China” principle on the UN, meaning that Taiwan cannot be recognized as a sovereign country. With China’s “sharp power” influence over the international community, Taiwan also cannot become a WHO observer nation.
Since COVID-19 broke out in China in December, more than 1.2 million people worldwide have tested positive for the virus, more than 64,000 have died and more than 180 countries have been affected.
Taiwan, predicted to be the second-worst infected area after China, has created a “medical miracle” through the determined efforts of its government and people, and kept the confirmed cases to only about 5 per 1 million people.
NBC News on March 10 published the story “What Taiwan can teach the world on fighting the coronavirus,” which praised the government’s success in preventing an epidemic through eight measures: establish a command center, be alert and proactive, take quick and decisive action, use technology to detect and track cases, ensure availability of supplies, educate the public, earn public buy-in, and learn from the 2003 SARS outbreak.
Taiwan’s epidemic prevention achievements have been recognized by authoritative medical journals, with Nature last month publishing a piece that said it is “time for the WHO to reconsider its stance towards Taiwan.”
Mainstream media in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US have had similar reports. The Telegraph even said that Taiwan sets the “gold standard on epidemic response.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also publicly said that Taiwan’s role as an observer in World Health Assembly meetings is in the best interest of the international community and Taiwan is an important partner in the fight against the pandemic.
Taiwan has sufficient experience and capabilities, and can assist the WHO in implementing the “the highest attainable standard of health for all human beings.”
No citizen of any nation should live without the right to health regardless of race, religion or political beliefs, or economic or social condition. The international community should not allow China’s authoritative regime to exclude democratic Taiwan from the WHO due to political preferences.
Masao Sun is director of the Culture Center for Taiwanese in Canada.
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to