Taiwan vowed yesterday to take whatever action necessary to defend its official title in an Asian medical student group.
Lin Wen-tong (林文通), director of the Ministry of Education’s Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, said that Taiwan would not oppose the Asian Medical Students Association (AMSA) accepting China as a member, but said that a proposal by Beijing to change Taiwan’s title from “AMSA-Taiwan” to “AMSA-Taiwan, China” was totally unacceptable.
The name-change proposal is to be voted on in a Feb. 27 AMSA members’ meeting.
AMSA, a non-governmental organization founded by Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia in 1985, now has 20 members.
AMSA-Taiwan said it launched a campaign last week to solicit the support of other AMSA members to safeguard Taiwan’s name.
“AMSA-Taiwan is excited about the potential of our Chinese medical student friends to join AMSA, and to play a more active role in this international medical students’ platform, as we believe friendship and medicine should be beyond borders,” a statement in English released by AMSA-Taiwan read. “However, we are regretful to learn that AMSA-China has brought political interference into AMSA, a non-political students’ organization. We consider such unnecessary political interference to be detrimental to the progress and development of AMSA.”
As of press time yesterday, the on-line signature drive has garnered more than 1,100 signatures from students in Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and the US.
AMSA-Taiwan chairperson Chen Ying-chi (陳映綺), a student at Chung Shan Medical University’s School of Medicine, slammed China’s proposal as unreasonable.
“It’s an undeniable fact that Taiwan is a founding member of AMSA. To change AMSA-Taiwan’s name undoubtedly runs counter to the AMSA’s history,” she said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said “the incident again proves that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) modus vivendi diplomatic truce with China is naive.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS