Fifteen of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have voiced support for its attendance at this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, the WHO said yesterday as it opened the first meeting of the 71st WHA in Geneva, Switzerland.
Proposals for a supplementary agenda item “inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer” were received last month and earlier this month from Belize, Tuvalu, Nauru, Eswatini, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, El Salvador, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Solomon Islands, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia, the WHO said in a statement.
The proposal has been submitted to the WHA’s General Committee for review, it said.
Photo: AFP
If the assembly decides to discuss the proposal, it would issue documents related to it, the statement said.
The proposals are listed in the form of direct quotes and do not represent the opinions of the WHO Secretariat, a note to the statement said, adding that the WHO addresses Taiwan as “Taiwan, China.”
Representatives from Germany, Honduras and Japan yesterday voiced support for Taiwan to have observer status during their speeches to the assembly as well as, for the first time ever, Canada and New Zealand.
Photo: AFP
Taipei Cultural and Economic Delegation Geneva Office Director-General Bob Chen (陳龍錦) said proposals would be discussed in two-against-two debates, and that four of Taiwan’s allies have agreed to speak for it.
While Eswatini and the Solomon Islands would lobby at the General Committee for Taiwan’s participation, the Marshall Islands and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines would put forward a motion to debate Taiwan’s participation if the committee vetoes the proposal, Chen said.
Taiwan in 1997 began to seek an invitation to the WHA’s annual meetings and was finally invited as an observer in 2009, under the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration. It received invitations through 2016.
Photo: CNA, screen grab from the Internet
However, Beijing blocked such invites last year and again this year to show its displeasure with the Democratic Progressive Party administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS