US and Taiwanese officials have held talks on expanding Taiwan’s participation in international bodies, including “opportunities” for the nation to attend a major WHO meeting next month.
Taiwan is excluded from most global organizations due to objections from China. In particular, Taipei has said that its exclusion from the WHO hampered efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US Department of State said in a statement on Friday that the meeting took place in Washington between high-level diplomats, including Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and US Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Michele Sison.
Photo: Reuters
“This discussion focused on opportunities for Taiwan’s participation as an observer in the World Health Assembly in May, and the possibilities for Taiwan’s participation at the International Civil Aviation Organization,” it said, referring to another UN body.
Taiwan attended the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s decisionmaking body, as an observer from 2009 to 2016, when relations between Taipei and Beijing were warmer.
However, China blocked further participation after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016.
The G7 has backed calls for Taiwan’s participation at the WHO.
China and the WHO have previously said that Taiwan was provided appropriate access to information about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan and the US also discussed Taiwan possibly contributing to other multilateral forums via membership or “meaningful participation,” the state department said.
“All participants recognized the importance of working closely with all those who share our concerns regarding attempts to exclude Taiwan from contributing its expertise, resources, energy and generosity to the international community,” it said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed its gratitude, saying the high-level working group meeting was held in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, and showed the US’ “rock-solid” friendship and support for Taiwan.
The meeting recognized Taiwan’s constructive role in multinational cooperation in the post-pandemic era, and showed that Washington would continue to assist Taipei to expand its international presence and push critical global agendas, the ministry said.
Taiwan would continue to work with like-minded countries such as the US to help maintain the international order and strengthen regional cooperation, it added.
Additional reporting by CNA
AGGRESSION: China’s latest intrusions set a new benchmark for its ‘gray zone’ tactics and possibly a new pattern that it would attempt to normalize, a researcher said China’s latest military exercises represent a new challenge to Taiwan’s legal authority to demarcate its borders in the Taiwan Strait, a defense expert said, adding that the fleets in the latest exercises were likely the most powerful the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ever assembled. The PLA conducted military exercises from Sunday last week to 6am on Friday, which encompassed large swathes of the western Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait and waters off the Philippines and Guam, National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said on Friday. The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 70 warship and 162 aircraft
DOMESTIC MARKET: To protect the livelihoods of local egg farmers, the government adopted a new method for releasing imported eggs, the agriculture minister said More than 54 million imported eggs will be disposed, as their expiration date has passed, Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei, explaining the flow of imported eggs following recent controversies regarding the products. The ministry introduced a special egg import program to address a nationwide egg shortage earlier this year. However, controversies have risen in recent weeks. These included an accusation that the government helped some egg importing companies over others, eggs imported from Brazil that had an incorrect expiration date, and egg shipments from Brazil that were found
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
RSS