A total of 106 lawmakers from seven European countries have sent letters urging the WHO director-general to invite Taiwan to this month’s World Health Assembly (WHA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, held its first-ever virtual annual meeting on May 18 and 19 with a reduced agenda due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rest of the annual meeting is to take place from Monday to Saturday next week.
In separate letters addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the parliamentarians from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia expressed their strong support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHA meeting, especially at a time when the world is struggling with the pandemic, given Taiwan’s exemplary performance in containing its COVID-19 outbreak.
Photo: Reuters
A joint letter addressed to Tedros on Oct. 22 was signed by Waldemar Andzel, chairman of the Polish-Taiwanese Parliamentarian Group; Istvan Tiba, chairman of the Taiwan-Hungarian Parliamentary Friendship Association; Peter Osusky, chairman of the Slovakia-Taiwan Parliamentary Group; and Marek Benda, chairman of the Czech parliament’s Czech Republic-Taiwan Friendship Group.
A separate batch of joint letters sent to Tedros from Oct. 22 to Thursday were signed by Gintaras Steponavicius, chair of the Taiwan Friendship Group of the Lithuanian parliament; Janis Vucans, chairman of the Latvian parliament’s Group for Inter-parliamentary Relations with Taiwan; and Kalle Laanet, chairman of the Estonia-Taiwan Friendship Group, as well as 99 other lawmakers from the three countries, the ministry said.
The ministry thanked the lawmakers for their support and urged the WHO to allow Taiwan’s participation for the benefit of all parties involved.
Denying Taiwan participation at the WHA is a violation of the human rights of the 23 million Taiwanese and is detrimental to global cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, it said.
The ministry would continue to cooperate with like-minded countries to push for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, it added.
After the People’s Republic of China took China’s seat at the WHO in 1972, Taiwan has not been able to participate in the WHA, except from 2009 to 2016, when it attended as an observer at a time when cross-strait relations were warmer under the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
HOTEL HIRING: An official said that hoteliers could begin hiring migrant workers next year, but must adhere to a rule requiring a NT$2,000 salary hike for Taiwanese The government is to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers for housekeeping and three other lines of work after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal by the Ministry of Labor. A shortage of workers at hotels and accommodation facilities was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. A 2023 survey conducted by the Tourism Administration found that Taiwan’s lodging industry was short of about 6,600 housekeeping and cleaning workers, the agency said in a report to the committee. The shortage of workers in the industry is being studied, the report said. Hotel and Lodging Division Deputy Director Cheng
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS