Partisan sniping over the WHO decision to designate Taiwan a “province of China” continued to escalate yesterday, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) responding to allegations that it had previously accepted the “insult.”
The latest round of accusations came one day after Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) said that the former DPP administration accepted the term “Taiwan, China” 18 times when attending WHO events in 2005, raising the question of who is to blame for the latest furor.
Shen made the remarks amid controversy over Taiwan’s status in the WHO, following DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling’s (管碧玲) disclosure earlier this week of an internal WHO memo that instructed staff to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China.”
The public would decide “who had damaged national sovereignty more,” Shen, Taiwan’s representative to the EU during the period, said on Wednesday.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), meanwhile, at a separate setting yesterday, also challenged the DPP over its handling of similar situations when it was in power.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who previously served as vice premier, should understand the difficulties the nation confronted in the international community as Taiwan was similarly referred to as a province of China when participating in the WHO under the DPP administration, he said.
The WHO changed Taiwan’s designation to “Chinese Taipei” and invited the Minister of Health to attend the annual World Health Assembly (WHA), only after he took office, Ma said.
“Did anyone in the DPP think the former government disgraced the nation? Was the then-government aware of the situation? How did the then-government handle it? We should also look more closely at how the former government handled the situation,” he said.
Ma then issued a call for a non-partisan effort to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and expand the space available to the nation for international engagement.
At a press conference held in response to the allegations, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) released official documents suggesting that officials were expressly barred from accepting names like “Taiwan, China” and “Taipei, China” when the DPP was in office. If an event such as this did occur, Shen would have been held personally responsible, Chen added.
“What he describes slaps himself in the face,” Chen said, clutching former DPP administration memos that instructed agencies to use either “Taiwan” or the government agency name, followed by a city name, that he said were given to Shen.
“Shen is clearly and completely mistaken on this issue ... [he] shouldn’t have played the blame game. The naming controversy is an issue that should transcend partisan fighting,” Chen added.
Responding to Ma’s claim that the DPP administration condoned similar action, another DPP spokesperson, Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦), said Ma “needed to take a look in the mirror.”
DPP lawmakers launched a fresh round of attacks earlier in the morning, accusing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of masterminding an agreement between Beijing and the WHO that relegated Taiwan’s status to that of a -Chinese province, as evidenced by the memo.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said that a 2005 Memorandum of Understanding between China and the WHO, which referred to Taiwan as “Taiwan, China,” came shortly after closed-door talks between the KMT and Chinese officials.
The term came about as a result of negotiations between then-KMT chairperson Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Gao said.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS