Taiwan did not participate in a WHO-organized vaccines conference in Beijing on Feb. 21 to protest the global body’s denigration of the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
The WHO again left the issue of Taiwan’s participation to be handled by Beijing, which did not send an invitation until 1am on Feb. 21, the same day it was held in Beijing, Wu said at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Despite insisting that no one should be left behind when it comes to healthcare, the WHO always excludes Taiwan, Wu said, adding that he hoped the organization could engage in greater introspection and overcome its discriminatory treatment of the nation.
Photo: AFP
He made the statements in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mary Chen’s (陳曼麗) question on why going to the conference would have been a problem and why the ministry could not provide airline tickets for a delegation to attend it.
Wu said it was a matter of principle, and that the ministry could not accept requiring Beijing’s approval to attend WHO events.
He also said it would be inappropriate for Taiwan to accept a last-minute invitation, which could give the impression that the government consents to its downgrading.
DPP Legislator Lin Jing-yi (林靜儀) asked Wu if the current situation stemmed from a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that China allegedly signed in secret with the WHO in 2005.
Wu said that was the case and that Taiwan had lodged protests over the MOU.
“You can’t just go and sign an MOU with one country, and impose rules on another country,” Wu said.
Asked whether the government had sought the help of other countries to complain about Taiwan’s late receipt of an invitation to the conference, Wu said doing so would not be helpful.
“There are many Chinese and WHO officials [at the conference] who would simply say: ‘OK fine, don’t attend then.’ Our best option is still to go straight to the WHO about it,” he said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday also criticized the WHO’s treatment of Taiwan, saying its obstruction of the nation’s participation was harmful to global efforts to protect against epidemics.
Taiwan has already been impacted by the WHO’s treatment, he said, citing problems with flu vaccines received by the nation last year.
China’s issuance of an invitation on the same day of the conference was clearly done to prevent the nation’s participation, he said, adding that the members of Taiwan’s delegation listed in its application were all qualified.
Taiwan was still able to get the information brought up in the conference through various channels, but its inability to attend cost it the opportunity for important face-to-face communication with and sharing of experience with international colleagues, he said.
Separately yesterday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that the delegation’s inability to attend the conference was a “serious violation of the healthcare rights of Taiwanese.”
Taiwan’s exclusion also created a “hole in the world’s immunization network” that would harm worldwide efforts to prevent epidemics, she said.
Epidemic-prevention efforts should not be bound by national borders, and should be free of impact from any particular nation’s political views, she said.
Despite Chinese obstruction, Taiwan, as a responsible member of the international community, would continue to seek participation in global organizations and activities, fight for the healthcare rights of Taiwanese and contribute to international healthcare efforts, she said.
The domestically designed Teng Yun 2 drone passed development milestones over the weekend, flying for more than 10 hours straight and circling Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in the longest flight of an indigenous uncrewed combat aerial vehicle. Developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the Teng Yun 2, or “Cloud Rider” (騰雲二型), recorded its longest flight yet over the weekend, after a three-hour test flight last month, followed by five and seven-hour stretches in the air. The Teng Yun 2 No. 1812 departed from Chiashan Air Base in Hualien County at 6:46pm on Saturday and flew on a
A slew of new measures are to take effect on Friday, including nationwide bring-your-own-cup discounts. The new rule requires chain beverage shops to offer discounts of at least NT$5 (US$0.17) to customers who bring their own cups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said. The policy would apply to more than 50,000 chain retail locations, including beverage shops, convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and supermarkets. It aims to cut down on waste from single-use plastic cups, more than 2.2 billion of which were used in Taiwan in 2020, the agency said. For convenience, the EPA said it has asked retailers to display signs stating how
TIMING: 'The CHIPS Act funding is crucial for us. In other words, if the act’s passage is delayed for too long, we will certainly need to adjust,’ chairwoman Doris Hsu said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓) plans to start construction on a US$5 billion wafer fabrication facility in Texas in November, after passage of the US$52 billion Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act. The fab would be the largest of its kind in the US and one of the largest in the world, with a monthly capacity of 1.2 million wafers, GlobalWafers said, adding that the investment would be the first new fab in the US in more than 20 years and critical to closing a semiconductor supply chain gap. The world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier said the project, which
COUNTERING CHINA: ‘When democracies demonstrate what we can do ... I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,’ US President Joe Biden said US President Joe Biden rebooted his effort to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) after an earlier campaign faltered, enlisting the support of G7 leaders at their summit in Germany. The Build Back Better World initiative, named after Biden’s domestic spending and climate agenda, struggled to get off the ground because not enough G7 partners contributed financially when it was unveiled a year ago, people familiar with its lack of progress said. “When democracies demonstrate what we can do — all that we have to offer — I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,” Biden said during