Three of Taiwan's diplomatic allies have urged the WHO to include Taiwan in the International Health Regulations (IHR), a legal framework for global infectious disease control, an official posted in Geneva said on Tuesday.
The three countries -- El Salvador, Paraguay and Sao Tome and Principe -- are among 34 members of the WHO Executive Board, which will have its 122nd session next week, Taipei Cultural and Economic Office in Geneva Director Shen Lyu-shun (
Shen said the three allies would make the proposal without directly naming Taiwan by recommending to the Executive Board that the WHO include any countries and areas that are currently excluded from the IHR in order to close gaps in the global epidemic control and health care network.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seeking support from more countries for the proposal, Shen said.
The IHR was adopted in May 2005 by the World Heath Assembly (WHA), the highest decision-making body of the WHO, and took effect in June last year. It requires all member states to report and address any public health emergencies of international concern.
Taiwan announced its voluntary adherence to IHR regulations in May 2005. However, the WHO, which does not recognize the Taiwanese government, has avoided direct contact with Taiwan and has excluded it from international health networks, Shen said.
He said the WHO had failed to respond and provide assistance in July last year after Taiwanese health authorities reported that a local couple had a dangerous form of tuberculosis and had posed a threat to health overseas by flying to China via Hong Kong.
Moreover, the WHO's International Food Safety Authorities Network did not inform Taiwan about contaminated corn, but rather asked Beijing to inform Taiwan after it learned that a shipment of green corn exported from Thailand in September was not safe.
Taiwanese authorities were not informed until 10 days after China received the alert.
The WHO's Web site also lists Taiwanese ports as Chinese, another indication that it is unwilling to include Taiwan in international health efforts, Shen said.
The proposal to include Taiwan in the IHR is a new bid, Shen said, adding that topics related to the IHR would be covered in the WHA Executive Board's session on Tuesday.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators