Taiwan has received an invitation from the WHO to attend this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in May as an observer under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
This will be the second year the country has been invited to the conference. This year’s meeting will be held in Geneva from May 17 to May 21.
Government officials held a press conference to display the invitation the Department of Health received by fax late on Monday night from WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍), saying the formal letter was on its way.
The fax was sent to Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良), although Chan referred to Yaung as “minister of the Department of Health” and to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei.”
“The format of the invitation and the manner in which the minister was addressed were the same as last year. The only difference was that the letter to [Taiwan] and other WHO members and WHA observers were sent simultaneously,” Department of Health Vice Minister Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲) said.
Last year, Taiwan received an invitation letter on April 28, three weeks ahead of the meeting.
Hsiao, along with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) and Council of Mainland Affairs Deputy Minister Chao Chien-ming (趙建民), attributed the invitation to cross-strait detente.
“It is the fruition of years of hard work and the result of efforts by both the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and the Democratic Progressive Party. In the past, Taiwan’s participation in the international community had been subject to cross-strait relations. Now, improvements in cross-strait relationships have helped Taiwan gain greater visibility in the international community,” Chao said.
When asked, Chao denied the letter had been sent with China’s consent, saying that the subject was not discussed in the negotiations between the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Chinese Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2