The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Czech Senate for passing a resolution supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and other international organizations for the second consecutive year.
The resolution was passed on Wednesday with 51 votes in favor, one opposed and 11 abstentions.
In addition to the WHO, it also called for Taiwan’s participation in the “meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
In its opening, the resolution states that the Czech Republic “considers Taiwan as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” while noting its engagement in addressing global issues.
Exclusion from international bodies “hinders the development of [Taiwan’s] contribution to the world community and affects the interests of the Taiwanese people,” it says, calling Taiwan’s past cooperation, especially in regards to health, “beneficial to the world community and Taiwan.”
The attendance of Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavsky and Czech Deputy Minister of Health Radek Policar at the vote “fully demonstrates the importance and firm friendship the Czech government attaches to Taiwan,” MOFA said.
It was the second year in a row that the upper chamber passed such a resolution ahead of the WHO’s annual World Health Assembly (WHA), which this year is to be held from May 22 to 28.
Czech officials and lawmakers have over the past few years increasingly spoken out in support of Taiwan.
Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil, who started the trend on his visit to Taiwan in 2020 despite strong protest from Beijing, on Sept. 1 of that year declared in Chinese before the Legislative Yuan: “I am Taiwanese.”
In July last year, the Czech government donated 30,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan, and in October welcomed Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) as a special guest to the European nation, where he received a medal from Vystrcil.
When the Czech government in January announced its administrative plan for the next four years, it included provisions to bolster its partnership with Taiwan, which it called an important democratic partner.
In other news, US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell on Wednesday said that cross-strait affairs would be on the agenda during the US-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit taking place yesterday and today in Washington.
The US would take action to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Campbell said, adding that it is “not seeking to take provocative actions,” but rather affirm that all parties would deter provocations.
MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) during a regular news conference yesterday thanked the administration of US President Joe Biden for consistently expressing its “rock-solid” support for Taiwan.
Taiwan has never changed its determination to defend its freedom, democracy and security, Ou said, vowing to continue improving the nation’s defense capabilities and cooperating with like-minded nations to maintain regional peace.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS