The US Mission in Geneva on Friday urged WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to invite Taiwan to a major meeting that the body is to host next week, with the focus expected to be on the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We encourage the WHO to expand its efforts to offer Taiwan increased meaningful cooperation and collaboration with the organization, and this would be a needed step in that direction,” the mission said in a statement.
Washington has been deeply critical of the WHO and Tedros for its handling of the pandemic, saying it is too close to China.
Photo: Reuters
It has said it might withdraw from the world health body.
Backed by the US, Taiwan this year has stepped up lobbying to again take part in the World Health Assembly (WHA) — the WHO’s decisionmaking body — as an observer.
Taiwan, which was praised internationally for quickly containing the novel coronavirus, was not invited to an earlier meeting by the same body in May and it agreed to put off the issue until later in the year.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked World Medical Association Council chairman Frank Montgomery for his open letter on Wednesday to Tedros urging the WHO to invite Taiwan to the WHA as an observer.
The association made a similar call in April.
Separately, after 102 members of the European Parliament and four German lawmakers in May issued an open letter calling for Taiwan to be included in the virtual WHA, 106 members of the European Council also wrote to Tedros on Thursday in support of Taiwan’s participation in the WHA as an observer.
On Thursday, the ministry said that 144 parliamentarians from the Central American Parliament (CAP) and across Latin America had issued a joint declaration supporting Taiwan’s WHO participation.
The parliamentarians, including CAP President Fanny Salinas Fernandez and National Assembly of Nicaragua President Gustavo Porras, made the call at the Formosa Club — a coalition of Taiwan friendship clubs — via video link, the ministry said in a statement.
They praised Taiwan for its success in fighting the pandemic and expressed support for its participation in the WHA, as well as at its technical meetings, programs and events, the ministry said.
Asked on Friday about next week’s WHA meeting, WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon said: “Taiwanese involvement at the WHA as an observer continues to be a question for member states.”
The body has previously said that it has no mandate to invite Taiwan, as members disagree on the nation’s participation.
The virtual meeting of 194 member states is to begin tomorrow and run through Saturday.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
RSS