It might be too strong to interpret the cold shoulder Taiwan received from its allies during the voting in its bid for full WHO membership as a sign of deteriorating diplomatic relations, but it could become a real crisis if diplomats try to play down the result as just another instance of China's interference in Taiwan's struggle for international recognition, political analysts said.
This year, for the first time, Taiwan applied for full WHO membership using the name "Taiwan" at the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's highest decision-making body.
Unsurprisingly, Taiwan was once again rejected. But to many people's surprise, several of Taiwan's allies did not support Taiwan when the WHA's General Assembly voted on whether to put Taiwan's application onto the agenda.
In addition to the Vatican, which is not a WHO member, seven of Taiwan's remaining 24 allies did not give their support to Taiwan's motion. Panama, Nicaragua, the Marshall Islands and St. Lucia were all absent from the vote while Haiti waived its voting right. The Dominican Republic forfeited its voting rights by not paying its membership fee. Costa Rica voted against Taiwan.
Several pan-blue legislators castigated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for "making bad friends" and for being oblivious to its allies' ambiguous attitude toward the WHA vote. People First Party caucus whip Chao Liang-yen (
It has also been rumored that some of Taiwan's allies in Central America are planning to cut relations with Taiwan.
And although Foreign Minister James Huang (
But the ministry admitted that the foreign ministers of Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua would be absent from the meetings with Huang.
Lo Chi-cheng (羅致政), a political science professor at Soochow University, said that the voting behavior of the nation's allies at this kind of international conference should be seen as an indicator of their loyalty to Taiwan, but it is still not the fundamental problem in the nation's diplomatic predicament.
"It is likely that some of these nations would use such events to negotiate with Taiwan for things they want," Lo said. "But some of these allies are experiencing a change of regime and need to face their voters domestically."
Lo said that ministry officials need to conduct a review to see what went wrong during communications with its allies and find out why they voted as they did.
Secretary-general of the EU Study Association Wu Chih-chung (
But political analyst Hsu Yung-ming (
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
REPORT: Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining loitering munitions matching the AeroVironment Switchblade 300 or the Anduril Altius-600, ‘Foreign Policy’ said Taiwan is seeking US-made kamikaze drones in an apparent concession to pressure from Washington to focus on asymmetric capabilities to defeat or deter a Chinese attack, Foreign Policy said in a report on Wednesday. Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining AeroVironment Switchblade loitering munitions or other devices with similar capabilities, it said, citing four sources familiar with the matter commenting on condition of anonymity. The Switchblade 300 is a tube-launched drone designed for attacking ground troops, while its larger sibling, the Switchblade 600, could be used to destroy tanks and entrenched troops. Ukraine has utilized both systems extensively in its fight against
Police officers yesterday morning apprehended the prime suspect of a triple homicide case, after raiding the suspect’s hideout in Taichung. They transported the suspect to New Taipei City for questioning and recorded his statement last night. The suspect, identified as a 24-year-old man surnamed Chang (張), is believed to have used his hands to strangle his wife, surnamed Chen (陳), 29, along with his three-year-old son from a previous marriage and his wife’s mother, 69. The three dead bodies were wrapped in blankets when they were discovered inside their apartment in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) on Saturday. Chang was holding a
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has