Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延), head of the Taiwanese delegation at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, yesterday shook hands with his Chinese counterpart Li Bin (李斌) of China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission.
The handshake reportedly took place outside the assembly chamber and was described as a “chance encounter.”
Lin said he personally felt the encounter was an extension of the Chinese delegation’s “goodwill,” adding that if one approached the issue “from a professional and practical angle, it was very natural that both would meet at the convention.”
Executive Yuan spokesperson Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said that the handshake was a mere formality, adding that the Taiwanese delegation is not ruling out in-depth interactions with other nations’ delegations on matters such as medical care and health.
Ministry of Health and Welfare spokesman Wang Che-chao (王哲超) said the two officials shook hands and exchanged swift, simple greetings.
It was reported that people in the Chinese delegation tried to block the media from taking pictures of the encounter.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the New Power Party (NPP) both said that the encounter was a positive development, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said the important question to ask is whether Lin told Li of Taiwan’s stance on matters.
KMT Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said the encounter might prove beneficial for future meetings, but that one “chance encounter” does not mean that Taiwan would be able to participate in other international conventions.
Lee said she hopes that the Republic of China’s (ROC) participation in international affairs would not diminish due to the transfer of power in Taiwan.
NPP Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐), who is part of the delegation, said he hoped relations would normalize between Taiwan and China to establish more solid and formal cooperation on global disease prevention.
NPP Legislative Yuan caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) and People First Party caucus convener Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that interaction on higher levels of government in terms of medical care on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are required.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS