The secretary-general of the World Medical Association (WMA), a confederation of more than 100 national medical associations, yesterday called on the WHO to end its continued exclusion of Taiwan.
During a keynote speech at this year’s NGO Leaders Forum in Taipei, WMA secretary-general Otmar Kloiber said his non-governmental organization (NGO) had long supported Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting.
Due to its advocacy on Taiwan’s behalf, the WHO has threatened to revoke the WMA’s membership in the multilateral body, Kloiber said, adding that WMA observers with Taiwanese passports had been routinely denied entry to UN premises since 2017.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
He said such “ridiculous” actions hurt not just the WMA, but also the WHO itself by forgoing the benefits of power, experience and humanitarian help from Taiwan.
“We see ourselves as advocates for healthcare everywhere, and the meaningful participation of knowledge is something which we believe is absolutely necessary to have complete inclusion,” Kloiber said. “And we hope that we can make a difference and get a reconsideration by the World Health Organization to have finally Taiwan included and participating in a very meaningful way.”
Taiwanese representatives were expelled from the WHO in 1972, one year after the People’s Republic of China was recognized as the sole representative of China by the UN.
During the administration of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) from 2009 to 2016, Taiwanese delegates, participating under the name Chinese Taipei, were granted observer status at the WHA.
Since then Taiwan has been excluded from the WHA due to opposition from China.
The NGO Leaders Forum was opened with remarks from Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui, who said that it was the third consecutive year that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had hosted an international forum to facilitate dialogue between the government and NGOs from Taiwan and abroad.
More than 600 participants from NGOs, government officials, business representatives and other guests had already taken part in this “meaningful event,” Yui said.
This year’s forum focused on the challenges and opportunities for a Taiwanese public-private partnership promoting peace and justice in global governance.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS