The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday called on Beijing to negotiate with Taiwan on the nation’s bid for observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA) this year.
The decision-making body of the WHO is scheduled to meet from May 18 to May 27 in Geneva.
In an interview with the Central News Agency, a high-ranking MOFA official speaking on condition of anonymity said the ministry was calling on Beijing to consider the will of the people of Taiwan to participate in the WHA.
The official urged Beijing to agree to talks on technical issues regarding Taiwan’s participation in the WHA and to discuss solutions that are acceptable to both sides.
In a separate interview, MOFA Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said Beijing was well aware of Taiwan’s position and that the two sides were communicating via various channels to understand each other’s intentions.
In China, Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi (王毅) told CCTV on Wednesday that he was “cautiously optimistic” on Taiwan’s bid to join the WHA as an observer.
Meanwhile, MOFA said yesterday said that after much wrangling with the UN, all 29 members of a delegation of Taiwanese women’s groups were allowed to enter the UN compound to participate in the annual Commission on the Status of Women held from March 2 to March 12.
Department of International Affairs Director-General Paul Chang (章文樑) said that during the first three days of the conference, the Taiwanese delegates were permitted to enter the UN building. But on the fourth day, UN officials blocked anyone not carrying a UN-recognized passport or a valid US driver’s license from entering.
The reason for the policy change was unclear.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported that Chinese official Sha Zukang (沙祖康), who is the UN undersecretary for economic and social affairs, had opposed allowing the Taiwanese delegates into the building.
Sha has snapped at Taiwanese reporters at the UN before. In 2003, shortly after the SARS epidemic, Sha barked “Who cares about you” when approached by Taiwanese reporters. At the time he was China’s ambassador to the UN office in Geneva.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching