President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday thanked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for their support of Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO as the number of confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus cases in the nation increased to nine.
“Particularly, I want to thank the US, Canada, Japan and other countries for publicly supporting Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO, as well as other international friends who have recently voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO,” Tsai said at the Presidential Office in Taipei as she reassured people about the government’s ability to prevent an epidemic.
“Taiwan is capable of and responsible for making contributions to the world. The WHO must not exclude Taiwan due to political factors,” she said.
Photo: Reuters
Trudeau, after circumventing a question by Canadian Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer about Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO in parliament on Tuesday, became assertive when answering the same question from lawmaker Michael Cooper on Wednesday.
“This is a question about Taiwan,” Cooper said, stressing Taiwan by spelling it out. “Does the government support the inclusion of Taiwan in international discussion about the virus? Again, Taiwan, yes or no?”
“Yes, Mr Speaker. As we did during the time of the SARS virus, we support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international multilateral forums. Especially when its presence provides important contributions to the global public good. We believe that Taiwan’s role as an observer in World Health Assembly meetings is in the best interest of the international health community and it also is an important partner in the fight against this epidemic,” Trudeau said.
Photo: AFP
His remarks were greeted by applause.
It was the first time that a Canadian prime minister had publicly voiced support for Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO, following similar gestures by Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and former Canadian minister of health Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Separately yesterday, Abe told the Japanese parliament that Taiwan’s participation in the WHO is necessary to effectively combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Kyodo news reported.
“It will be difficult to maintain health and prevent further infections in this region if [Taiwan] is excluded for political reasons,” Abe was cited as saying. “We will continue to make our country’s stance clear at the WHO.”
On Wednesday, Saint Lucian Prime Minister Allen Chastanet issued a statement calling on the WHO to include Taiwan.
“Given Taiwan’s proximity, its importance as a transport hub and its 23 million population, Saint Lucia urgently calls on the WHO ... to ensure that there is full involvement of the Taiwanese authorities in the international consultations, planning and decisionmaking to monitor, control and ultimately halt the further spread of the coronavirus,” the statement said.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
RSS