Germany’s Bundestag on Thursday adopted a resolution calling on Berlin to push for Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities, as a delegation of Taiwanese legislators yesterday left for Switzerland to advocate for Taiwan on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly (WHA).
The resolution, backed by lawmakers across party lines, urges the German government to work within the UN’s health agency to advocate for Taiwan’s participation in the WHA and relevant WHO mechanisms and activities as an observer.
It also calls on the government to report to the Bundestag regularly about its efforts to support Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities.
Photo: Reuters
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it was significant that the Bundestag, backed by four parliamentary groups in support of Taiwan, passed the resolution.
Taiwan looks forward to working with the German government and parliament to deepen bilateral ties and contribute to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, it said in a statement.
Ulrich Lechte, a spokesperson for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) parliamentary group, was cited by German media as saying that Taiwan could play an important role in the WHO and that its exclusion because of Chinese pressure must end.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
The FDP was one of the four party caucuses that cosponsored the resolution, along with the Social Democratic Party, CDU/CSU and Bundnis 90/Die Grunen.
Taiwan has yet to receive an invitation to this year’s WHA, which is to be held from Sunday to Saturday next week in Geneva, Switzerland.
A group of cross-party legislators yesterday left for Geneva to voice Taiwan’s hope to participate in international discussions during the 75th WHA.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lee De-wei (李德維) and Jessica Chen (陳玉珍), and New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) formed the observation group, which is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Thursday next week.
Wang told a news conference yesterday that she would condemn the WHO for succumbing to Chinese pressure and excluding Taiwan.
“As a sovereign state, Taiwan should be able to participate in global organizations such as the WHO,” she said, adding that during the trip, she would let other democracies know that Taiwan is an important partner and would fight for more opportunities to participate.
Lin, who is a doctor, said that they would watch live broadcasts of the meetings to listen to experts discuss the post-COVID-19 pandemic world.
She said they hoped to visit some local groups, but could not reveal details for fear of Chinese intervention.
The group is also to present Taiwan’s efforts in COVID-19 prevention to Taiwanese expatriates, as many have been asking when policies would be relaxed, she added.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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