Taiwan is to donate US$1 million to the WHO to fight the Ebola virus, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, even though the nation was excluded from the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the decisionmaking body of the WHO.
Despite its exclusion from the WHA due to opposition from China, Taiwan is determined to continue contributing to the improvement of global health by donating the money to combat Ebola, which was first reported in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tsai said.
Ebola, transmitted through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids of infected people, is one of the world’s most virulent diseases.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Taiwan is a world power in enhancing healthcare and the well-being of people, which is why it is pledging the funds, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.
The donation shows Taiwan’s willingness to take responsibility as a member of the international community, Huang said.
Tsai made the announcement while receiving a delegation led by Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who had just returned from Geneva, Switzerland, where he solicited support from WHO members for Taiwan’s participation in the WHA and touted Taiwan’s role in disease prevention on the sidelines of the 71st WHA meeting.
Tsai protested against Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHA, saying that the WHO barred Taiwan due only to political reasons.
“Taiwan is a model in strengthening disease prevention in the world, but the WHO’s decision is likely to create a loophole for the global efforts in combating diseases,” Tsai said.
During the WHA’s annual meeting, which was held from Monday to yesterday, Taiwan’s allies and other countries friendly to the nation voiced their support for its presence in the meeting and related activities.
On May 16, a bipartisan group of 172 members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, calling for Taiwan to be allowed to participate in the WHA.
The international support for Taiwan’s presence at the WHA showed that the harder China suppresses Taiwan on the world stage, the more support Taiwan will secure from the international community, Tsai said.
“Not only have our allies have voiced support for Taiwan, but other nations without formal ties, such as the US, have also lent their support. Taiwan secured support from the largest number of countries in history,” Tsai said.
During his trip to Geneva, Chen was awarded the title of “Diplomat of the Global Charter” by the World Federation of Public Health Associations.
The award showed that Taiwan’s contributions to global health enhancement have been well-recognized in the international community, Tsai said.
Taiwan had hoped to attend the WHA as an observer, as it did from 2009 to 2016, but did not receive an invitation from the WHO because of opposition from China, which has been pressing Tsai to accept the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Tsai said on Facebook that the money pledged to fight the Ebola virus had previously been earmarked for cooperation between Taiwan and Burkina Faso, which severed its relations with Taiwan on Thursday.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former MAC chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
RSS