The WHO turned its back on Taiwan again yesterday as the steering committee of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's highest decision-making body, decided not to include Taipei's application as a WHA observer on the assembly agenda.
Despite the setback, Taiwanese officials vowed to continue the country's efforts in joining the WHO in order to enhance the health and welfare of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
"Taiwan will continue to go for the WHO bid," said Lee Ming-liang (
As the weeklong WHA meeting was opened formally in Geneva yesterday, the WHA's general committee held a closed-door meeting in the morning to discuss several issues, including whether to add the proposal to discuss Taipei's application for WHA observer status to the assembly's provisional agenda as a supplementary item.
The issue triggered extensive discussions during the meeting, insiders of the meeting said, during which six countries spoke in favor of Taiwan and 17 countries, as well as the EU, spoke in opposition.
Two EU nations, France and Spain, opposed the inclusion of the proposal on the assembly's agenda, whereas the US and Japan remained silent on the issue, sources said.
Spain said it did not support the inclusion of the proposal on the agenda and suggested that the second plenary meeting in the afternoon should arrange a two-to-two open debate on the issue, a remark termed by Sanchez Reyes, a member of the Nicaragua delegation attending the meeting, as "surprising."
France termed the proposal put forward by Taiwan's diplomatic allies as a "political issue" and thus opposed the including of the proposal on the agenda, Reyes told reporters and Taiwanese officials after the meeting.
On behalf of the EU, Spain later took the floor again in the proceedings saying the EU considered it was not "opportune to deal with the issue" because the case had already been "widely debated and discussed" at the WHO's Executive Board meeting in January, Reyes said.
A. C. Diallo, a member of the Senegal delegation attending the closed-door meeting, also briefed officials on details of the meeting.
Other major countries that voiced their opposition to the proposal included China, Cuba, Russia, North Korea, Mexico, Nepal, Morocco and Zimbabwe, among others.
Six of Taiwan's allies, Senegal, Burkina Faso, San Tome and Principle, Panama, Honduras and Belize, spoke in favor of Taiwan, with a majority of the countries citing the exclusion of the 23 million people out of the WHO system as a stark challenge of the "health for all" principle underpinning the WHO constitution.
The chairman of the meeting, Lopez Beltran, the minister of health from El Salvador, decided at the end of the morning session not to include the issue on the assembly agenda.
The decision put forward by the general committee was later confirmed in the afternoon session of the plenary meeting in the assembly after an open debate on the issue. Malawi and Grenada spoke in favor of Taiwan, while China and Pakistan spoke against the case.
Yusuf M'wawa, Malawi health minister, voicing the African state's strong support for Taiwan, said Taiwan's application as "a health entity" to the WHA as an observer, was a "pragmatic solution."
C. M. Curwen, minister of Health and the Environment in Grenada, urged the assembly that Taipei's request to become a WHA observer "did not interfere with the `one-China' issue .... It is a matter of human rights" rather than a political issue.
While the WHO spoke of "health for all," the exclusion of the 23 million people of Taiwan from the WHO system was simply contradictory to the WHO Constitution, Curwen said.
Curwen also said Taipei's intention to enter the WHA as "a health entity" could find similar models in the past, such as Taiwan's accession as a separate customs territory into the WTO, and its entry into APEC as an "economy."
Zhang Wen-kang (
"Such a proposal by a small number of countries is a challenge to the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of China," Zhang said, adding that any move aimed at creating "one China, one Taiwan," or "two Chinas" was "doomed to failure."
Zhang also ridiculed Taipei's unprecedented proposal to enter the WHA as a "health entity," saying such a term was simply absent from any of the WHO or WHA related rules.
But heartening news for Taiwan's WHO bid came yesterday from Tokyo, as the Japanese prime minister instructed the Japanese delegation in Geneva to express related statements in favor of Taipei's efforts, sources said.
Michael Kao (
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned