Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) was escorted out of the 65th World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in Geneva on its opening day on Monday and had her observer credentials confiscated for wearing a T-shirt with the words “Taiwan is Taiwan, not China.”
Lin said her T-shirt was “a form of silent protest” against President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) references to “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” in his inauguration speech on Sunday, adding that she wanted to send a clear message that Taiwan is not a part of China.
“I took off my jacket while WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍) was addressing the assembly in a bid to make a clear statement that the ‘one country, two areas’ framework does not exist in Taiwan,” Lin said in a telephone interview with the Central News Agency yesterday.
Photo: CNA
Shortly after her “silent protest,” Lin said she was asked to leave the conference hall by the WHO’s security staff, but added that she left on her own initiative and did not cause any disturbance.
Displaying the T-shirt was only a way of expressing her stance in a silent manner, but the WHO could not tolerate such an approach, Lin said.
“How much diplomatic space does Taiwan really have left?” Lin said indignantly.
“If I were wearing a T-shirt that read ‘I am Lady Gaga’s little monster,’ maybe I would not have been treated in such a manner,” she said.
Commenting on the incident, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said that opinions should be expressed in a manner that conforms with international protocol.
On a comment in which he was quoted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) as having said that Chan asked Chiu “why would [you] create trouble during my speech?” the health minister denied the WHO director-general mentioned the issue during an informal meeting, adding that she merely came and said hello.
Lin said she had applied to take part in the WHA as a Taiwanese observer in the past, but had been refused. She said she was only granted observer status this year in her capacity as a lawmaker and with help from Taiwanese representatives in Europe.
Expressing regret over Lin’s eviction, Taiwan’s representative office in Geneva said Lin had been escorted out in accordance with WHA regulations, which stipulate that participants cannot take slogans, flyers or propaganda material into the conference hall.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
RSS