Two Taiwanese medical groups have been forced to change the word “Taiwan” in their membership names for the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists (ISRRT) to “Chinese Taipei,” due to a request by the WHO.
The two groups are the Taiwan Society of Radiological Technologists (TWSRT) and the Taiwan Association of Medical Radiation Technologists (TAMRT).
On Dec. 23 last year, the TAMRT posted on Facebook screenshots of a letter it received from the ISRRT, informing it that the two groups’ membership names would be changed from “Taiwan - TWSRT” and “Taiwan - TAMRT” to “Chinese Taipei - TWSRT” and “Chinese Taipei - TAMRT.”
Screen grab from the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists Web site
In the ISRRT’s letter, it said that the decision was made after it received two letters from the WHO in June last year and last month, asking it to adjust the terms used on its Web site to be consistent with the policies and practices connected with relevant resolutions and decisions of WHO governing bodies.
The letter also cited a part of the letter from the WHO, which said that “in accordance with such policies and practices, references to ‘Taiwan’ are generally presented as ‘Taiwan, China.’”
Listing two links to the ISRRT’s Web site as examples, the WHO’s letter also instructed the ISRRT to “please check all references to Taiwan on the website and ensure references to Taiwan are represented as Taiwan, China.”
The letter from the ISRRT to the two groups said it recognizes that they were among the founding organizations, and that it was a “hard decision” to make, but it has to meet the WHO regulations to continue holding the non-state actors “official relations” status.
The TAMRT said on Facebook that the two groups protested the name change as soon as they received the letter.
They would continue to work with the government to ask the ISRRT to reverse the name change, it said.
TAMRT president Tu Chun-yuan (杜俊元) yesterday said that the two groups have been members of the ISRRT for more than 50 years and have participated in many of the organization’s global meetings, but the ISRRT in March last year informed them that their membership names might be changed due to pressure from the WHO.
“It only gave us two options at the time — either change to ‘Taiwan, China’ or use the term ‘Chinese Taipei,’ which is the nomenclature used to list countries participating in the Olympic ceremony and games,” he said.
“Of course, most of our Taiwanese radiation technologists cannot accept either of the two names,” Tu added.
Tu said that they then received last month’s letter informing them about the name change on the ISRRT’s Web site.
The two groups feel angry and have protested the decision, but have not yet received a response from the ISRRT, he added.
The TAMRT said on Facebook that it encourages the society’s members to carry out their duties with dedication and protect people’s health, so that the world can see the hard work of Taiwanese.
“Although the name is important, what is more important is our efforts,” it said. “Be proud of Taiwan, gain a foothold in the world and let the world know that Taiwan can help.”
Additional reporting by CNA
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —