The Taiwan United Nations Alliance yesterday said it would promote Taiwan’s visibility and publicize the nation’s contributions to global health on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is to convene in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday.
Members of the alliance’s Here I Stand Project, which comprises young Taiwanese dedicated to speaking up for Taiwan at international events, as well as a number of doctors, are to depart for Geneva on Thursday, the alliance told a news conference in Taipei.
They are to join the delegation led by Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) to Geneva, even though Taiwan has not been invited to participate in the WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, for a sixth straight year.
Photo: CNA
Project members would hold a “Taiwan creative exhibition” to introduce Taiwan to the world, as well as attend a party held by the Overseas Community Affairs Council and official forums, association executive director and leader of the mission Chou Te-wang (周德望) said.
Former Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) is to give a speech at the forum, titled “From SARS to COVID-19.” Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) is to participate in the forum virtually.
A Polish online influencer known as Stan is to report on the mission’s activities at the event.
Taiwan needs to explain its medical prowess and the contributions it made to other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, because its international space has been continuously suppressed, dentist and mission member Shih Shu-hua (史書華) said.
“The WHA needs Taiwan’s viewpoint,” as the nation can offer more transparent health information than China, Taiwan Statebuilding Party Taipei chapter convener and physician Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱) said.
The mission is to carry banners signed by doctors from the Taiwan Medical Association, as well as participating doctors and experts from other countries, to show support for Taiwan, she said.
The association designed a new logo and visual corporate identity to mark its 20th anniversary this year.
The design drew inspiration from a dove of peace and a puzzle, sending the message that “Taiwan is the missing piece of the puzzle” in global health and beyond, association vice president Hung Chia-chun (洪嘉駿) said.
The EU yesterday expressed its support for Taiwan’s participation, with EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy spokesperson Nabila Massrali saying that Taiwan’s capabilities in medicine and the energy it puts into world health would bring added value to the WHO’s efforts toward health for all.
In other news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday welcomed a delegation of Swedish lawmakers who, during last month’s Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), voiced their support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHA.
The delegation comprises Swedish lawmakers Markus Wiechel, Sara Gille, Nima Gholam Ali Pour and Rasmus Giertz, who arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for a six-day visit, the ministry said.
Wiechel, who is the vice president of PACE, authored a declaration during the council’s spring session to “call on the member states of the Council of Europe to work to restore Taiwan’s observer status [at the WHA] as early as possible.”
The document, which garnered 22 signatures, praised Taiwan as “an advanced, engaged, highly capable and responsible member of the global health community,” and called the loss of Taiwan’s contribution in the field “regrettable.”
Taiwan’s relationship with Sweden has become closer in recent years, the ministry said, adding that a delegation of Swedish lawmaker and members of the European Parliament in April last year visited Taiwan, despite China’s opposition.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed concern over China’s military threat to Taiwan in his first address to the Swedish parliament in October last year, it added.
Taiwan will continue to work with Sweden and other like-minded countries to enhance democratic resilience, defend a free and democratic way of life and strive for mutual prosperity, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS