Taiwan is beefing up its last-ditch efforts in lobbying various countries, especially the US, for its bid to gain an observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) amid what officials termed "overwhelming" opposition from Beijing.
The WHA votes today on whether to place Taiwan's bid on its agenda.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
As the US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson reached Geneva yesterday morning for the week-long WHA meeting slated to begin today, Taiwanese officials were still pushing for a meeting with Thompson to try to gain US backing for the country's latest bid.
"We are still arranging the meeting," Head of the Department of Health Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) said yesterday before press time.
Lee confirmed that the US has promised that Thompson would speak in favor of Taipei's bid to become an observer at the WHA "on several occasions" during his stay in Geneva.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has conveyed to the US that it would like Thompson to voice support for Taiwan's bid during formal WHA meetings, sources said.
There are two WHA meetings today that should touch upon Taiwan's case. The first is the general committee's discussion in the morning which will decide whether to add Taiwan's application as a "supplementary item" to the WHA agenda. This afternoon's second plenary meeting will review the result of the committee's morning decision on the agenda.
Thompson is scheduled to give a luncheon talk tomorrow at the invitation of the World Medical Association, Lee said.
As of press time yesterday, it was not clear when the US would express its stance on Taiwan's bid, Taiwanese officials said.
When asked to specify Taiwan's strategy during the week-long meeting, Michael Kao (
Ambassador-at-large Ken Chiu (
"With the exception of Mexico, which has expressed its clear opposition to our applications and said it would speak out in favor of China during the meeting, many countries that we've contacted have expressed their sympathy with us," Chiu said.
Officials said that while they have been working overtime to strengthen support for Taiwan's bid and to capture more international media coverage, Beijing has been taking unprecedented measures to block their progress.
"Since we arrived we've confronted many difficulties far beyond our imagination, especially tremendous measures taken by China to suppress us," Lee said.
"The sabotage by Beijing of our bid during the past two weeks or so has been unprecedented," said Patrick Wang (
For instance, a series of advertisements for Taiwan's WHO bid at the Swiss airport were somehow removed on Saturday from the site earlier than the duration agreed between Taipei and a local advertising firm, Wang said.
The Swiss Committee of Communications has also denied Taipei's original plan to introduce a series of related advertisements to a French broadcast program in Switzerland, Wang added.
Lee said that other factors have also complicated the nation's bid. The original chairman of the WHA meeting, Chilean health minister Jinenez Azata, was unable to reach Geneva due to strikes by medical professionals in his country, throwing an unexpected kink in the proceedings.
Lee, however, said that he believes Taiwan has gained substantive progress in its WHO bid this year.
"Although we may see no difference between the result of the discussions on Taiwan's bid today and that of last year, we have indeed made a lot of progress this time," Lee said.
Lee also confirmed that he has sent a petition letter this month to WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland to ask for her support for Taiwan's WHO bid.
Meanwhile, the Swiss newspapers 24 Heures and the Tribnune de Geneve covered Taiwan's efforts in their editions yesterday.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS