Nearly three hundred Taiwanese from all over the world gathered in Geneva on Sunday to support Taiwan's 9th bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO), while Taiwanese officials made their last request for Beijing to relent in its opposition to Taipei's participation in the health body.
"We have so many people campaigning for our health bid this year. They all paid for their trips to Geneva out of their own pockets," said Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉), executive director of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan, a Taiwanese NGO (non-governmental organization) that has been at the forefront of pushing for the country's entrance into the WHO since 1995.
Wearing green T-shirts printed with the slogan "Taiwan for WHO," groups of Taiwanese people stood on the sidewalks around Lake Geneva on Sunday afternoon distributing pamphlets and holding banners appealing for support for Taiwan's efforts to join the WHO.
PHOTO: MELODY CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES
"[WHO] says yes to Taiwan," read one of the banners. "WHO cares for Taiwan?" asked the other.
Members of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and doctors and nurses from Tainan's Sin Lau Hospital, the oldest hospital in the country, were among those traveling to Geneva for Taiwan's health bid. They sang songs and danced to call for people's support for Taiwan.
Tsuang Ming-sion (莊明雄), superintendent of Sin Lau Hospital, said many more of his hospital staff wanted to join the activities in Geneva but could not come because he could only bring 26 people. The doctors and nurses, all in white, sang hymns and Taiwanese folk songs.
"I am impressed. I know they have a mission," said Jacek Stardbrat, a 30-year-old from Warsaw, Poland, after taking a pamphlet from a Taiwanese campaigner and listening attentively to her explanation of Taiwan's hope to join the WHO.
"I've heard a lot about Taiwan before. The Chinese have been maneuvering [against] Taiwan," said Stardbrat, who is now a Geneva resident.
As a crowd watched the Taiwanese groups dancing and singing, a police car pulled over and several Swiss policemen came out to demand that the performers stop what they were doing in ten minutes.
"They have to apply to the police for a permit ... This is the law," said one Swiss policeman, as one foundation member explained to him that the Taiwanese were only signing and dancing.
The Taiwanese campaigners wrapped up their activities shortly after the police arrived.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese officials, including Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) and Minister of Health Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂), called a press conference on Sunday afternoon requesting that China be sincere about its promise to help Taiwan enter the WHO.
Concerned about China's intention in signing a memorandum of understanding with the WHO Secretariat facilitating technical exchanges between Taiwan and the WHO, Kau questioned why China and the WHO Secretariat needed to keep the document's details secret.
Taiwan is treated as part of China in the memorandum, according to Taiwanese diplomats' understanding of the situation.
"Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) should come to Geneva to see how China oppresses the Taiwanese people," said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津).
Beijing promised Lien and Soong to help Taiwan participate in the WHO when they visited China. After failing to honor those commitments, Beijing's political manipulation to block Taiwan's application for WHO observership in Geneva has angered many Taiwanese campaigners, said foundation president Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民).
"China should act like a big country rather than constantly bullying a small nation like Taiwan," Wu said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS