Fri, May 14, 2004 page3

• Chen makes plea for Taiwan's WHO bid

  PERSONAL TOUCH President Chen Shui-bian yesterday had meetings with officials from European countries, during which he asked for support for Taiwan's WHO bid

  • By Lin Chieh-yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged the Norwegian government to support Taiwan's bid to enter the World Health Organization (WHO) during its upcoming annual assembly.

  "The 23 million Taiwanese people should neither be separated from the international community nor be unable to serve its obligation to international organizations," Chen said when receiving a senior Norwegian congressional delegation.

  "We also have to express our appreciation to congressmen from five Nordic countries, who recently acknowledged Taiwan's democratic achievements and during a teleconference last month promised to facilitate their governments' support for Taiwan's bid," Chen said.

  Chen received Carl Hagen, chairman of Norway's right-wing Progress Party, at the Presidential Office. The president said that Taiwan should have a voice in the world health regulatory body and he hoped Hagen could use his clout to push the Norwegian government to support Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.

  "Only in this way can Taiwan contribute its experience and resources to world health development as well as the global epidemic control network, in which there now exists a hole due to Taiwan's absence," Chen said.

  The WHA -- the WHO's governing body -- will convene its annual conference in Geneva next week and Taiwan's special delegation, led by Minister of Health Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), has arrived in Geneva in an effort to realize the nation's expectation of being awarded observer status.

  Previous efforts failed seven times because of Beijing's strong opposition.

  According to the government's Ministry of Health, though it is not optimistic that Taiwan will achieve its goal, it is more likely this year that a vote may be held to decide Taiwan's application in the name of a sovereign health entity.

  Chen said to Hagen that he hoped, if Norway could not express its explicit support for Taiwan's bid, it should at least refrain from speaking against the bid.

  Meanwhile, Chen also promised that his inauguration speech will satisfy the expectations of both the domestic and international communities.

  "Some people from the foreign and domestic communities continue to make suggestions to me about what I should or should not say in my speech," Chen said at a meeting with congressmen from the Netherlands.

  "It has become a severe challenge and test for me. However, I am confident that I will deliver my new speech with wisdom and creativity to the approval of the majority of the domestic community as well as the broader international community," he said.

  Chen also thanked the government of the Netherlands for adopting a parliamentary resolution last December proposing that the EU lift the bans restricting Taiwan's top government officials from visiting European countries, as well as maintaining the international weapons embargo against China.
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