Taiwan’s representative offices in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland have jointly produced a video calling for Taiwan’s participation in the annual World Health Assembly (WHA), which is to begin on Sunday.
In the video, members of the five representative offices can be seen holding banners reading “Taiwan can help” and “Taiwan is helping.”
International Ombudsman Institute secretary-general Werner Amon and Czech Senator Marek Hilser also appear in the video, saying that democracies should work together in the face of the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic and global economic crises.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Representative Office in Ireland via CNA
Former Hungarian lawmaker Bana Tibor in the video calls Taiwan a “model for universal health coverage,” and Slovakia’s Bratislava Province Governor Juraj Droba calls Taiwan a “model for the world,” citing the country’s successes during the pandemic.
Droba said that Taiwan’s voice should not be ignored in the field of medicine.
Arkadiusz Mularczyk, vice chairman of the Polish House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, appears in the video saying that Taiwan’s commitment to improving global public health makes it important in maintaining global stability.
Photo: screenshot from YouTube
Citing Taiwan’s recent donations to Ukraine, Slovak Parliamentary Friendship Group chairman Peter Osusky said that Taiwan is a force of good for the international community.
“The world should hear Taiwan’s voice. Please give Taiwan a seat at the World Health Assembly,” he said.
Representative to Hungary Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), Representative to the Czech Republic Ko Liang-juei (柯良叡), Representative to Austria Katharine Chang (張小月), Representative to Slovakia David Lee (李南陽) and Representative to Poland Bob Chen (陳龍錦) also appear in the video calling for Taiwan’s participation in the WHA.
Lee said that Taiwan is an important member of the international community, not only through its contributions to world health, but through its involvement in humanitarian missions, including US$33 million in donations, plus and 650 tonnes of materials toward efforts to assist Ukraine.
Separately, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday on Facebook thanked those in the international community who had supported Taiwan’s WHA participation bid.
“Taiwan has the determination and ability to help, and will continue to make important contributions to the international community,” she wrote.
“Taiwan’s participation will surely help to build a stronger health system for the world to better face future challenges,” Tsai said.
Additional reporting by Su Yung-yao
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS