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.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS