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.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS