The WHO should resist pressure from Beijing and stop asking international medical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to change Taiwan’s designation to “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Taiwan, China,” on their Web sites and their documents, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and local medical groups said yesterday.
DPP Legislator Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源), who is also president of the Taiwan Medical Association, told a news conference in Taipei that there have been been several incidents involving the WHO forcing international medical NGOs to change the nation’s designation or face termination of official ties or collaborations with the WHO.
“The WHO, as a healthcare organization, should not capitulate to China or any other nation,” Chiu said. “It concerns us deeply that the WHO would order all international NGOs to change Taiwan’s title, which has compromised its mission and vision.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The move is especially ironic as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom’s statement on the WHO’s Web site reads: “I envision a world in which everyone can live healthy, productive lives regardless of who they are and of where they live,” Chiu said.
“We would like to firmly request that the WHO not allow any political influence to get in the way of healthcare,” he said. “Taiwan has internationally acclaimed medical capabilities and has been an active participant in international disaster relief missions.”
Federation of Medical Students in Taiwan (FMSTW) president Huang Hsu-li (黃序立) said his federation in January found that the nation’s name had been changed from “Taiwan” to “Taiwan, China” on the Web site of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), of which the FMSTW is a member.
When FMSTW representatives protested the designation change at a meeting of the IFMSA in Egypt this month, they were told that the change was made after the IFMSA faced pressure from the WHO, which said that if it did not make the change it would end all collaborations, he said.
The FMSTW plans to respond to the issue by launching a bid to host next year’s IFMSA meeting in Taiwan, so that international medical students can visit the nation and see what kind of place it is, he said.
The forced changes to Taiwan’s designation expose how China really treats Taiwan in the international arena, said DPP Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), a former physician.
China’s “united front” tactics are like luring an animal with a few grains of rice before netting and slaughtering it, which is “despicable,” Lin said, calling on the WHO not to bow to Beijing’s “dirty tricks.”
Taiwan has made excellent contributions to the world with its medical competency, such as helping to curb the spread of pandemics, and it should not be excluded from the international community, said DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), also a former physician.
Changing Taiwan’s title or depriving it of its right to participate in international medical events is not only unfair, but it also runs counter to the universal value of healthcare as a basic human right, Chen said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2