Taiwan’s delegation made a good showing at this year’s World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, attending meetings and shoring up connections on the sidelines of the event, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
Although not invited for a third year in a row due to political obstruction from China, Taiwan on May 17 sent a delegation led by Chen to the WHO’s decisionmaking body, which runs from Monday last week until tomorrow.
Returning to Taiwan yesterday morning, Chen and the delegation visited President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office.
Photo: CNA
The delegation, along with groups of Taiwanese medical professionals and overseas Taiwanese, have taken action, using various methods to show the world Taiwan’s commitment and determination to contribute to global health, Tsai said, adding that they should be highly recognized for their efforts.
Taiwan has always been an active and responsible member of the global community, especially in the field of healthcare, and is glad to share its advanced medical skills and experience, as well as cooperate with others to tackle global health challenges, she said.
“Taiwan will not retreat because it has been arbitrarily suppressed politically or unreasonably threatened,” Tsai said. “There should be no national borders in global health and disease prevention and Taiwan, who actively contributes to international healthcare, should not be excluded from the WHA.”
Chen said that with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the delegation’s trip went smoothly and improved Taiwan’s visibility to the world.
Later yesterday at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Chen said that he was satisfied with the delegation’s performance, giving them a score of 90 points, compared with 80 points last year, because they took part in additional bilateral meetings, more substantial discussions occurred during the meetings and they exchanged experiences with many like-minded nations.
The delegation this year participated in 71 bilateral meetings — with 32 nations and 39 non-governmental organizations — with many people concerned about how excluding Taiwan from the WHA might affect regional disease prevention, because information immediacy is so important, Chen said.
No matter which party governs after next year’s presidential election, the ministry still try to get invited to the WHA, he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai