The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA).
The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded.
The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, the Czech Economic and Cultural Office, the French Office in Taipei, the German Institute Taipei, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association and the Lithuanian Trade Representative Office.
Photo: CNA
As a highly capable, engaged and responsible member of the global health community, Taiwan was invited to participate in the WHA as an observer from 2009 to 2016, the statement said.
The offices praised Taiwan for its distinct capabilities and methods, including its significant public health expertise, democratic governance and advanced technology, which would bring considerable value to the WHA’s deliberations.
However, Taiwan remains largely excluded from the global international health system, the statement said.
Photo: AFP
“Taiwan’s isolation from the WHA, the preeminent global health forum, is entirely unjustified,” it said. “This undermines inclusive global public health cooperation and security, which the world demands and which is enshrined in the founding documents of the WHO.”
“As COVID-19 and continued public health crises make plain, infectious diseases and health hazards do not respect borders. Global cooperation is required to keep the whole world safe,” it said.
The offices called for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement in the WHO and participation in the WHA as an observer.
“Only by including Taiwan as an observer would the WHO be able to fully exemplify the health assembly’s commitment to ‘One World for Health,’” the statement said.
In Geneva, representatives from 11 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies on Sunday attended a reception in support of Taiwan.
The attendees at the reception, hosted by Taiwan’s representative office in Geneva, included representatives from all but one of Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies, with the Holy See being the exception.
The Holy See is an observer, not a member, of the UN and rarely speaks on political issues during UN-related meetings.
At the reception, some representatives from Taiwan’s allies spoke in strong support of Taiwan’s efforts to participate in the WHA.
“I stand here today to affirm our commitment to you, our friends, that we will continue to do everything we can, in every WHA each year, to ensure that one day Taiwan will finally be given its place in the Assembly,” Palauan Vice President Raynold Oilouch said.
He also thanked Taiwan for helping to build Palau’s health infrastructure.
Haitian Minister of Public Health and Population Bertrand Sinal also expressed similar sentiments, saying that Taiwan had contributed significantly to the health infrastructure in his nation.
Taiwan also provided crucial support after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, particularly with the operation of the National Ambulance Center, he said, adding that Taiwan is currently helping with public security in his country.
Haiti continues to stand in support of Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, he said.
The Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name, left the WHO in 1972 following a decision by UN members to expel “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石),” and recognize instead the People’s Republic of China as the only “legitimate representative of China.”
Since then, Taiwan has been unable to attend the WHA, even as an observer, due to pressure from China, except from 2009 to 2016, when relations with China were warmer under the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS