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.
‘HONORED’: The DPP’s Lin Fei-fan said friends working in the foreign media, the diplomatic corps and at think tanks congratulated him for making the sanctions list The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday slammed China for sanctioning Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and six other Taiwanese officials for being “diehard separatists,” saying its attempt to intimidate Taiwanese would backfire. China has no authority to dictate the actions of Taiwanese, because Taiwan is a democratic nation that upholds the rule of law, and would never yield to intimidation and threats from an authoritarian regime, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news conference in Taipei. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency earlier yesterday reported that the Taiwan Work Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee has imposed
THAI ASSISTANCE: The representative office in Thailand worked with local authorities to help trafficking victims return home, while one in the group has been charged Eight Taiwanese who were lured to Cambodia with lucrative job offers only to be forced to work illegally were brought home on Sunday night in a joint effort between Taiwanese and Thai authorities, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said. Nine people — six men and three women aged 23 to 42 — boarded China Airlines Flight CI-836 from Bangkok, with assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 9:55pm and were taken to the Aviation Police Bureau for questioning before entering home isolation in accordance with Taiwan’s COVID-19 regulations. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday
A delegation of US lawmakers yesterday arrived in Taiwan for a two-day visit, the second high-level group to visit the nation amid military tensions with China. Beijing has been holding military drills around the nation to express its anger at this month’s visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto US embassy in Taipei, said that the delegation is led by US Senator Ed Markey, who is being accompanied by US representatives John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal, Don Beyer and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen as part of a larger visit to
GOOD TIMING: The visit is significant, as it shows that China’s drills have not deterred members of the US government from visiting Taiwan, a DPP legislator said Taiwan is committed to maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told visiting US lawmakers yesterday. Tsai made the pledge as she met with a bipartisan congressional delegation led by US Senator Ed Markey at the Presidential Office. The unannounced two-day trip came after Beijing held live-fire military exercises in waters around Taiwan in the wake of a visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Aug. 3 to Aug. 4, the first visit by a sitting US House speaker since 1997. Members of the delegation include US representatives John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal, Don Beyer and
RSS