The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked Japan, the US and like-minded countries for their continued support of Taiwan’s international participation, and called on the WHO Secretariat to stop aligning with China in efforts to block Taiwan’s inclusion.
The 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) is set to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from Monday to May 27.
However, due to political influence, the WHO has once again declined to invite Taiwan, Department of International Organizations Deputy Director-General Chang Chih-sha (張芝颯) said.
Photo: Huang Chin-hsuan, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, MOFA and Taiwan’s overseas missions have consistently advocated for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO throughout the years, she said.
This year, the ministries are also assembling a “Taiwan WHA Action Team,” led by Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源), to travel to Geneva and host a series of events aimed at promoting Taiwan’s positive contributions to global health, she said.
In the past few years, Taiwan has garnered growing support from the international community — which has bolstered the legitimacy of its bid and raised global awareness of its exclusion, she added.
“MOFA thanks Japan, the US and other like-minded countries for taking action to support Taiwan’s international participation,” Chang said, citing examples of their support, such as the US-Japan Joint Leaders’ Statement in February, the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in March and the US-Japan-South Korea Joint Statement last month.
The governments of the US, Japan and Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, along with the legislatures of Sweden, Ireland, Italy and several other countries, have issued resolutions and statements supporting Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, she said.
However, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to deliberately and systematically misinterpret UN Resolution 2758 in international forums to “dwarf” Taiwan and block its right to participate in international organizations, she said.
“MOFA again stresses that nowhere is ‘Taiwan’ mentioned in the full text of UN Resolution 2758, and it neither determines that Taiwan is a part of the PRC, nor gives the PRC permission to represent Taiwan in the UN,” she added.
“Only the democratically elected government of Taiwan has the right to represent the 23.5 million Taiwanese,” Chang said. “The authoritarian government in Beijing does not have the right to interfere with or limit Taiwan’s right to participate in international organizations.”
The foreign ministry expressed its appreciation to the US for strongly condemning China’s attempts to isolate Taiwan during a UN Security Council meeting on April 23.
At the meeting, the US underlined China’s misuse of UN Resolution 2758 to misrepresent other countries’ policies and restrict their diplomatic choices, Chang said.
“MOFA urges the WHO Secretariat to stop ‘bandwagoning’ with China in excluding Taiwan from the WHO,” she said.
With this year’s WHA theme being “One World for Health,” which emphasizes the universal right to health, Taiwan hopes the WHO Secretariat would prioritize global health and welfare, she said, adding that the nation is capable and willing to contribute to the world and help the WHO achieve its goals.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires