Taiwanese support WHO bid in Geneva

Doctors and nurses from Sin Lau Hospital hold a baaner appealing for support for Taiwan's bid to join the WHO on a sidewalk next to Lake Geneva in Switzerland. PHOTO: MELODY CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES

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.

"[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.