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.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS