Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) on Friday confirmed that the nation had received an invitation from the WHO to send officials to its annual World Health Assembly (WHA), which is to be held in Geneva later this month, adding that it would be passed on to the new government under president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
For the past seven years, the WHO has sent an invitation to Taiwan to attend the WHA as an observer under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
What is different this time is that the invitation mentioned UN Resolution No. 2758 and the “one China” principle, which is understood to mean that there is only “one China,” with Beijing interpreting that as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) encompassing Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
The resolution was passed on Oct. 25, 1971, and recognized the PRC as “the only legitimate representative of China to the UN,” expelling the representatives of the Republic of China (ROC).
This year’s meeting is to be held in Geneva from May 23 to May 28, shortly after the inauguration of Tsai on May 20.
Chen said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) viewed the invitation in a positive light, believing it to be an extension of the so-called “1992 consensus,” which refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have never recognized the existence of such a consensus.
This year’s WHO invitation, for the first time doing so under the premise of the “one China” principle, is widely seen as the first challenge directed at Tsai.
The incoming administration has to decide by tomorrow, the last day of online registration for the WHA, if it wants to attend the conference.
On Friday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) stressed China’s “clear and consistent” stance on Taiwan’s participation in the international community, which he said was that “reasonable arrangement will be made through cross-strait consultation under the ‘one China’ principle.”
Taiwan has been able to attend the WHA conference since 2009 as an observer in a “special arrangement” under the political basis of the “1992 consensus,” he said.
He added that as Taiwan has expressed a desire to attend the conference several times this year, China heeded the wish and made the arrangement in goodwill.
He said that if the “political basis” is to be destroyed, it would be hard to continue such an arrangement.
China has consistently obstructed Taiwan’s efforts to take part in international organizations, but lifted its objection to Taiwan’s bid to become a WHO observer less than a year after Ma Ying-jeou began his first presidential term in May 2008.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique