Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) yesterday again called for the international community’s support as he urged the WHO to let Taiwan participate as an observer in the World Health Assembly (WHA).
The annual meeting of the WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, began in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday and ends on Saturday.
As Taiwan has not been invited to attend the WHA as an observer for the eighth year in a row, a delegation of health officials and experts led by Chiu arrived in Geneva on Friday to speak up for Taiwan and take part in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the WHA.
Photo: screen grab from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s Facebook page
Joined by four legislators from across party lines, Chiu held an international news conference at the Geneva Press Club to speak about “How Taiwan’s participation in the WHO can contribute to a comprehensive global health network.”
“We are calling for the international community’s support and urging the WHO to act in line with this year’s WHA theme — ‘All for Health, Health for All’ — by including Taiwan in the proceedings of the WHA as an observer, and allowing Taiwan’s regular participation in WHO meetings, activities and mechanisms,” Chiu said in his opening remarks.
Taiwan supports actions that can save lives — promoting health and well-being, advancing primary healthcare, ensuring universal health coverage and meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but the WHO continues to exclude Taiwan for political reasons, he said.
Photo: Reuters
“I would like to reaffirm that neither UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 nor WHA Resolution 25.1 mentioned Taiwan or provide legal authorization for the People’s Republic of China [PRC] to represent Taiwan in the UN system,” he said.
“Precluding Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the WHO based on these resolutions cannot be justified,” Chiu said.
“Neither the Republic of China [Taiwan] nor the PRC is subordinate to the other,” he said, adding that that is “the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and an internationally recognized objective fact.”
“China has no right to interfere with or restrict Taiwan’s participation,” he said, stressing that only the democratically elected government of Taiwan can represent its 23 million people in the WHO and other international forums.
“We sincerely appreciate the support extended by diplomatic allies and like-minded countries for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the WHO,” he added.
Taiwan, being a force for good, has the capability and willingness to contribute to global health and well-being, and the whole world would benefit from its inclusion to the WHO and WHA, Chiu said.
Asked what name Taiwan would use to join the WHO, Chiu said. “Taiwan is Taiwan, and our country name is the Republic of China (ROC), so using ‘Taiwan’ or ‘ROC’ for joining the WHO or the WHA is what we will insist.”
Asked if Taiwan would find alternative ways to join the WHO or the WHA, aside from winning support from diplomatic allies and like-minded countries, Chiu said that, in the past few decades, Taiwan has educated and trained many outstanding healthcare professionals, and they have not only elevated the quality of domestic healthcare, but also participated in many international organizations.
Many Taiwanese healthcare professionals also play important roles in international organizations, such as the Taiwan Medical Association, which helped draft the World Medical Association’s statement on health emergency responses, he said, adding that Taiwan has more than 100 professional healthcare groups and their efforts would be the foundation of Taiwan’s successful WHO and WHA bid.
Many Taiwanese healthcare professionals are getting further education or training in other countries and building friendships with local professionals, who might eventually also hold key positions in world organizations, so the government would continue to provide more resources to professional healthcare associations to encourage international participation, he said.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS