Taiwan will apply for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" in September despite its failed bid for WHO membership earlier this month, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Tzu-pao (
Yang made the remarks while giving a report on the nation's earlier bid to join the WHO before the legislature's Foreign and Overseas Compatriot Affairs Committee.
While 17 of Taiwan's 24 allies supported the nation's bid during the World Health Assembly, the WHO's highest decision-making body, held in Geneva earlier this month, 149 nations voted against including Taiwan's application on the agenda.
KMT Legislator John Chiang (
"Using the name `Taiwan' to ask for a seat in the WHO is just like a fool trying to block a running train," Chiang said while asking if the ministry planned to adopt the same strategy in September in its UN bid.
Yang replied that the UN bid was a fixed policy made by the government and that it would not be changed.
Chiang dismissed his remarks as President Chen Shui-bian's (
If Chen insists on applying for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" in September, Chiang said he would charge Chen with "violating the Constitution."
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) rebutted Chiang's remarks, saying the major difficulty behind Taiwan's application to join international organizations is because most countries in the world do not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation.
"I want to ask Chiang: Would it be okay for Taiwan to degrade itself by choosing [the name] `Chinese Taipei'? Why cannot Taiwan use the name `Taiwan' in joining international organizations?" she said.
The donation of offshore patrol vessel Kinmen to the Philippines includes provisions that protect Taiwanese fishers and facilitate security cooperation across the First Island Chain, officials said yesterday. The comment was made during the Cabinet’s comprehensive administrative report at the legislature after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) expressed concerns about the decision to give a ship to a country whose coast guard had in 2013 fired on a Taiwanese trawler and killed its captain without provocation. The Cabinet should lay out the safeguards that have been established to prevent the Philippine government from using the Kinmen to harass, expel
GROWING TIES: The CGA is planning a goodwill mission to the Philippines, in what would be the first time since 1975 a Taiwanese paramilitary vessel has visited the country The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) plans to significantly expand its participation in international security cooperative frameworks and its operational capabilities, a budget proposal for next year showed. The budget indicates a transformation of the CGA from a maritime law enforcement arm into a national defense and intelligence gathering entity capable of tackling larger regional security matters. The proposal showed that personnel from the coast guard’s Intelligence Division and Special Action Support Center are to participate in high-level national security talks with the US. As the CGA has dealt with China’s rising “gray zone” threats around Taiwan, it has become a valuable asset to
A patrol vessel donated by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to the Philippines was commissioned into the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Friday, a Philippine non-governmental organization said. The CGA on Sept. 16 confirmed media reports that Taiwan had donated a retired 500-tonne patrol vessel to the Philippines. The Manila-based We Protect Our Seas (WPS) foundation, which served as an intermediary in the transfer, said that the vessel was formerly the CGA’s 500-tonne petrol vessel Kinmen (CG123). The WPS, in a statement issued on Friday, said the vessel, renamed as the BRP Sarangani, had been commissioned into the PCG the
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: Beijing sent two China Coast Guard vessels to escort a ‘supposedly private research ship,’ a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman said The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday confirmed that it had recently deployed three patrol vessels to waters in Taiwan’s overlapping exclusive economic zone with the Philippines to monitor three Chinese vessels. CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said the agency regularly monitors Chinese vessels around Taiwan, and that the deployment south of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, was carried out in accordance with standard procedures. He added that the waters fall within the overlapping exclusive economic zones of Taiwan and the Philippines, which extend 200 nautical miles (370km) from their coastlines. Hsieh made the comments when asked about a
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