Eight EU member countries are to receive 1.3 million masks from Taiwan as part of its second batch of donations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, again urging the WHO to fully include the nation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The masks are part of the nation’s humanitarian donation of 6 million masks announced on Thursday last week, with the rest going to the hardest-hit US states, countries covered by the government’s New Southbound Policy and those friendly to Taiwan.
While the ministry did not name the European recipients last week, Department of European Affairs Deputy Director-General Chen Yung-shao (陳詠韶) yesterday told a news briefing in Taipei that Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia and “Baltic Sea countries” — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — are to receive 1.3 million masks in total.
Photo: Screen grab from the Facebook page of the Office of the Texas Secretary of State
The ministry hopes to deliver the masks to the countries as soon as possible, as people are dying from the disease every day, but it is uncertain when they will arrive, as flights have been reduced and there are restrictions to overland transportation in the continent, she said.
Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the Holy See, Switzerland and the UK were among the recipients of a first round of mask donations announced on April 1.
“Delivery gratefully received! The surgical masks donated by Taiwan have now arrived in the UK where they will be distributed around our National Health Service. Thank you Taiwan!” the British Office Taipei wrote on Facebook yesterday.
The office of Texas Secretary of State Ruth Ruggero Hughs yesterday also wrote on Facebook that the state has received 100,000 masks from Taiwan, while presenting a certificate to Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston Director-General Peter Chen (陳家彥) thanking Taiwan for its support.
Meanwhile, Marion Smith, executive director of the US-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, on Monday wrote on Twitter that “the Chinese Communist Party lied to the world about #COVID19 and is using the World Health Organization as an instrument of propaganda.”
Asked about Smith’s remarks, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday said the ministry had noticed his post and that the WHO should include all international stakeholders to ensure that information can be shared instantly and completely.
Taiwanese’s right to health is a humanitarian and human rights issue, Ou said, urging the WHO to discard political considerations and fully include Taiwan in its meetings and mechanisms.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS