The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday issued a statement in support of Taiwanese journalists after reporters from the Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) and the Central News Agency (CNA) were not accredited by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to attend the its 39th Triennial Assembly which opened on Tuesday in Montreal.
UDN reporter Chang Chia (張加) and CNA reporter Hu Yu-li (胡玉立) were both refused entry to the assembly, despite Chang’s approved Internet registration — which an ICAO official, surnamed Liu (劉), said was automatically generated — and Hu holding a Canadian passport.
A UDN report said Liu told Chang that the organization could not accept Republic of China passports. Chang’s registration on the ICAO Web site had also been canceled without explanation two hours later when Chang left the building.
“As an agency of the United Nations, which is charged with upholding freedom of expression, the ICAO should accredit journalists irrespective of the news organization for which they work,” CPJ deputy executive director Robert Mahoney said, adding that journalists were vital in ensuring that the ICAO fulfills its mission.
In an e-mail to Reuters, ICAO communications chief Anthony Philbin said: “[The] ICAO follows the United Nations’ ‘one China’ policy. While arrangements had been made for their attendance at the last [38th] session of the assembly, there are no such arrangements for this one.”
“We [the US] do remain committed to supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation, as you put it, in the ICAO ... but, in keeping with our ‘one China’ policy, we support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations that do not require statehood. Now, in organizations that require statehood for membership, such as the ICAO, the United States supports Taiwan’s meaningful participation,” US Department of State deputy spokesman Mark Toner said on Monday at a daily press briefing in Washington.
The CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization headquartered in New York that promotes press freedom worldwide, with the goal of defending the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said that the ICAO’s cancelation of Chang’s registration was in violation of the values of human rights and equality that the UN supports.
The ministry said it had instructed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada to make it known, through whatever channels possible, that the government protests the unequal treatment of Taiwanese reporters.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)