Members of 20 national healthcare associations yesterday urged the WHO not to exclude Taiwan from attending this month’s 72nd World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WHA, the WHO’s decisionmaking body, is to be held from Tuesday next week to May 28, but Taiwan has not received an invitation for the third consecutive year due to pressure from China.
Taiwan Medical Association president and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said that many countries and people from around the world have voiced their support for Taiwan to be invited to the WHA this year, including a letter to the WHO by the World Medical Association, urging it to grant Taiwan observer status at the WHA.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Medical Association
The growing global support demonstrates that the international community is gravely concerned about Taiwan being unfairly excluded from the WHO and its events, he said.
“We feel deep regret and are angry that the WHO has not allowed us to attend the WHA several times due to political suppression,” he said. “We condemn the improper use of political power to obstruct the universal value of healthcare for all.”
Taiwan Union of Nurses’ Association executive council member Chou Shin-shang (周幸生) said that the theme of the WHA this year is “universal health coverage — leaving no one behind,” highlighting every individual’s right to heath, regardless of their age, race, belief and political inclination.
“We, members of Taiwan’s healthcare family, stand in solidarity with friends around the world to point out that Taiwan is the missing piece in the global health puzzle,” she said. “Health for all and Taiwan can help.”
Taiwan is a dedicated contributor in many international healthcare organizations, committed to working together, and sharing knowledge and experience on universal health coverage, so the associations stand together to urge the WHO to invite Taiwan to the WHA this year and truly “leave no one behind,” she added.
National Union of Chinese Medical Doctors’ Association secretary-general Ko Fu-yang (柯富揚) said that Taiwan’s absence would be a loss for the WHA, because Taiwan has a very high national health insurance coverage rate and advanced healthcare quality that can contribute to the world.
Hepatitis C is expected to be eliminated in the nation in the next few years, which would be a significant achievement, and Taiwan has many similar skills and experiences that it can share with others, he said.
“Taiwan’s participation [at the WHA] can make global disease prevention closer to perfect,” he added.
DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said he was moved by the associations’ continuous efforts to speak out for Taiwan, because other countries would only help if Taiwan helps itself, and many countries have expressed their support this year because they recognize the efforts of Taiwanese healthcare professionals.
Striving for inclusion in the WHO is not an easy challenge, but Taiwan must stand firm and determined for what is right, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said.
“We must let the world know China has never, not even for one second, been able to represent the 23 million Taiwanese,” he said.
China cannot speak for the rights of 23 million Taiwanese and cannot represent Taiwan, he added.
DPP Legislator Chen Ching-min (陳靜敏), also representing the Taiwan Nurses’ Association, said that Taiwan’s healthcare professionals can only share their experiences by joining international medical organizations, and as the association is a member of the International Council of Nurses, she has attended the WHA’s side events in 2005, after the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Chen said she could still vividly recall how Chinese representatives claimed that they represent Taiwan and could take care of Taiwanese, but the nation was excluded from the international SARS prevention network in 2003.
Sadly, the WHO still has not learned from that experience, Chen said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique