The World Medical Association (WMA) has called on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to facilitate the meaningful participation of Taiwan at the World Health Assembly (WHA).
The WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is to hold its annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 22 to 28.
The WMA General Assembly in October last year voted 91-16 in favor of a resolution supporting Taiwan’s participation in all WHO health programs and the WHA.
Photo courtesy of Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Tai-yuan
“We all have to strive now for inclusion, diplomacy and peaceful cooperation of those who are willing to live in peace,” the WMA said in an open letter dated Tuesday to Ghebreyesus.
Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the WHO “would be a clear signal for a peaceful cooperation on the international level,” the WMA said.
The WHO should grant “Taiwan observer status to the World Health Assembly, ensuring Taiwan’s participation in all its health programs on a substantive, timely and professional basis,” it said.
Photo: AFP
The WMA said that Taiwan should be included “as a fully participating party to the International Health Regulations, thus allowing its critical contribution to the global health protection network.”
Sending the letter to Ghebreyesus was not at the request of the Taiwan Medical Association (TMA), but an initiative taken by the WMA, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator and TMA president Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said.
“We have to be very careful,” Chiu said, warning against Beijing’s increasing hostility toward Taiwan.
China has insisted on having three representatives in the WMA, instead of one, Chiu said, adding that resolutions critical of China are rarely passed.
However, the letter is crucial to inspiring people and gathering support, which might open the door to people’s right to health being protected, Chiu said yesterday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) thanked the WMA’s friendly act of support for Taiwan.
The government is formulating a proposal for participation in the WHA this year, she said, adding that details would be announced.
Ou said that the COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the importance and urgency of Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, with many countries voicing their support.
Taiwan’s allies and other like-minded countries have backed Taiwan’s participation in the WHO through speeches and written statements, she added.
In a statement in February, the UK and Australia reiterated their support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, Ou said.
Last month, the Danish Parliament passed a resolution supporting Taiwan’s participation in the WHA as an observer, while earlier this month, US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian McKeon spoke on behalf of Taiwan’s participation in the WHA in a meeting with Ghebreyesus.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
RSS