A Chinese delegate attending the closing ceremony of the biennial International Council of Nurses meeting in Singapore on Tuesday reached across other delegates on stage to cover up the Taiwanese delegate’s name badge.
A video showing the incident was posted on Tuesday on the Facebook page of Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ching-min (陳靜敏), who is also deputy director of the Taiwan Nurses Association.
In the video, Chinese delegate Wu Ying (吳瑛) reaches across the US delegate to flip over the name badge of association vice president Huang Lien-hua (黃璉華) to prevent the Republic of China (ROC) flag on the badge from being seen.
“China is too afraid of Taiwan being seen by the international community,” Chen said in a statement posted on Facebook.
China had initially told the council it would boycott the meeting if it did not force Huang to use the Chinese national flag on her badge, she said.
Huang was allowed to keep her badge unchanged and attend the ceremony after strongly protesting the demand, she added.
The Chinese delegate’s behavior was “clearly malicious and irrational,” and was caught on camera for everyone to see, she said.
This year’s meeting was attended by 5,310 people, including 419 Taiwanese nurses who presented their theses on healthcare, the association said.
Despite the incident, the association said the meeting was a success for Taiwanese nurses, who had the chance to share their professional experience and research with colleagues from different countries.
The International Council of Nurses was established in 1899 in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 135 members.
The Taiwan Nurses Association is a formal member of the organization, which accepts only one nursing association per country.
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