The WHO should resist pressure from Beijing and stop asking international medical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to change Taiwan’s designation to “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Taiwan, China,” on their Web sites and their documents, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and local medical groups said yesterday.
DPP Legislator Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源), who is also president of the Taiwan Medical Association, told a news conference in Taipei that there have been been several incidents involving the WHO forcing international medical NGOs to change the nation’s designation or face termination of official ties or collaborations with the WHO.
“The WHO, as a healthcare organization, should not capitulate to China or any other nation,” Chiu said. “It concerns us deeply that the WHO would order all international NGOs to change Taiwan’s title, which has compromised its mission and vision.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The move is especially ironic as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom’s statement on the WHO’s Web site reads: “I envision a world in which everyone can live healthy, productive lives regardless of who they are and of where they live,” Chiu said.
“We would like to firmly request that the WHO not allow any political influence to get in the way of healthcare,” he said. “Taiwan has internationally acclaimed medical capabilities and has been an active participant in international disaster relief missions.”
Federation of Medical Students in Taiwan (FMSTW) president Huang Hsu-li (黃序立) said his federation in January found that the nation’s name had been changed from “Taiwan” to “Taiwan, China” on the Web site of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), of which the FMSTW is a member.
When FMSTW representatives protested the designation change at a meeting of the IFMSA in Egypt this month, they were told that the change was made after the IFMSA faced pressure from the WHO, which said that if it did not make the change it would end all collaborations, he said.
The FMSTW plans to respond to the issue by launching a bid to host next year’s IFMSA meeting in Taiwan, so that international medical students can visit the nation and see what kind of place it is, he said.
The forced changes to Taiwan’s designation expose how China really treats Taiwan in the international arena, said DPP Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), a former physician.
China’s “united front” tactics are like luring an animal with a few grains of rice before netting and slaughtering it, which is “despicable,” Lin said, calling on the WHO not to bow to Beijing’s “dirty tricks.”
Taiwan has made excellent contributions to the world with its medical competency, such as helping to curb the spread of pandemics, and it should not be excluded from the international community, said DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), also a former physician.
Changing Taiwan’s title or depriving it of its right to participate in international medical events is not only unfair, but it also runs counter to the universal value of healthcare as a basic human right, Chen said.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS