The US Department of State on Friday launched a “TweetforTaiwan” campaign to rally support for Taiwan’s participation in the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA).
The annual WHA, the WHO’s decisionmaking body, is expected to meet virtually on May 18 for its 73rd session.
Taiwan participated in the WHA as an observer from 2009 to 2016, but has not been invited since.
Photo: Reuters
After the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan, on Friday launched a “WHACountdown” series of Facebook posts, the department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs took to Twitter to urge support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHA.
“The US believes firmly that #Taiwan belongs at the table when the world discusses #COVID19 and other threats to global health. Before 2017, Beijing didn’t object to Taiwan joining the World Health Assembly as an Observer. What’s changed? #TweetforTaiwan,” the bureau wrote as part of a volley of tweets.
The bureau also shared President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) post on Taiwan’s success in containing the pandemic, writing: “@iingwen, the contrast with the #PRC is striking. China’s response to the outbreak of #COVID19 has been to hide the facts, muzzle its scientists and censor discussion.”
The US mission to the UN wrote on Twitter that “@UN was founded to serve as a venue for all voices, a forum that welcomes a diversity of views & perspectives, & promotes human freedom. Barring #Taiwan from setting foot on UN grounds is an affront not just to the proud Taiwanese people, but to UN principles. #TweetforTaiwan.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked the US for its support and creative campaign, adding that the hashtag campaign fully demonstrates Taiwan-US rapport.
Meanwhile, the Chinese mission to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, blasted the tweet campaign as “[a]nother political trick,” saying that UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 “has long put an end to the Taiwan question.”
“Strongly oppose using this question to interefere [sic] in China’s internal affairs. Trying to shift the blame for inadequate response to #COVID19 in US? No way,” its tweet read, while tagging the bureau and the US Mission to the UN at the end of its post.
The Chinese mission on Friday issued a statement voicing its objection to the US mission’s stated support for Taiwan.
“There is only one China in the world. The government of the People’s Republic China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China,” it said.
It urged the US to immediately stop speaking for Taiwan, and politicizing and undermining the international response to the pandemic, while abiding by its so-called “one China” principle, the Three Joint Communiques and UN General Assembly Resolution 2758.
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