Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-05-21

This year’s World Health Assembly kicked off in Geneva on Monday. While Taiwan has in

the past attended the annual meeting of the WHO’s governing body, China is preventing its participation this year, for a third year in a row. Nevertheless, a delegation from Taiwan is in Geneva calling on the world to recognize its right to attend.

“Hospital without Borders” is the name of an exhibition under way in Geneva on the sidelines of this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA). It’s just one of several events that Taiwanese NGOs are holding. The goal is to showcase Taiwan’s achievements in medical care and its willingness to participate in the World Health Organization.

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said Taiwan is the world’s 17th largest exporter and 18th largest importer, and yet it is unable to participate in the WHA. He also likened Chinese opposition to a “red dust storm.”    [FULL  STORY]

 

China’s efforts to ensure Taiwan is excluded from the WHA undermine the global democratic order.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/05/21
By: Kuo-Chang Huang 

Once again, Taiwan has been barred from the World Health Assembly (WHA); the decision-

making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) that begins its annual meeting today in Geneva.

Deriving from the PRC’s One-China Principle, under which Beijing asserts Taiwan is part of China and that the government in Taipei is illegitimate, the WHO turned down Taiwan’s application to participate as an observer at the WHA, along with the petitions for Taiwan to attend submitted by several member states.

On May 15, the WHA also refused to authorize Taiwanese media to cover the assemblies proceedings; a move Reporters Without Borders considered as an inherent contradiction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.    [FULL  STORY]

Carrefour Taiwan is the first supermarket in Asia to commit to selling only cage-free eggs

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/21
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In response to a input from animal rights groups, Carrefour

Taiwan announced on May 15 that it will shift to only selling cage free eggs by 2025, reported China Times.

Convinced that “treating hens well is the only way to get good eggs,” Carrefour Taiwan announced that it would start an egg revolution. At a press conference held on May 15, the Taiwanese branch of the French multinational retailer, in collaboration with NGOs and egg farmers, announced that it would make “four egg commitments,” including the creation of a “cage-free egg area” by the end of 2018.

The company said that in 2019 it will begin “cage free feeding” of the hens for its branded eggs, with the eventual goal of having 100 percent of all eggs sold its store come from cage-free chickens.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/21
By: Tang Pei-chun, Tai Ya-chen and Ko Lin 

Geneva, May 21 (CNA) Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday for sidelining Taiwan at this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), arguing that disease knows no boundaries or politics.

Speaking at a press event in Geneva, Chen said the health organization went against its own principle of enhancing and promoting health equality as a universal value.

A delegation led by Chen arrived in Geneva on Saturday and is holding a series of events on the sidelines of the 71st annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), to which Taiwan was not invited as an observer for the second year consecutively due to opposition from China.

Chen argued that Taiwan’s participation in the WHA has nothing to do with politics and but has everything to do with basic human rights.    [FULL  STORY]

MEDIA FREEDOM: The president of the International Federation of Journalists has said the WHO’s decision not to accredit Taiwanese journalists is ‘unacceptable’

Taipei Times
Date: May 22, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a stern protest over the WHO’s decision to deny

Taiwanese news outlets access to the World Health Assembly (WHA), the annual meeting of its decisionmaking body that opened yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, calling on the WHO to respect press freedom.

The ministry issued a statement protesting and condemning the UN body’s decision not to grant media accreditation to journalists from Taiwan.

It also called on WHO member countries and international media to demand that the WHO respect and protect press freedom, adding that the organization is serving China’s political objectives by depriving Taiwanese journalists of their right to cover news.

It is the second year in a row that Taiwan has failed to obtain an invitation to the WHA due to China’s obstruction, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

ST32da, a compound found in red sage root, is believed to turn white fat into fat-burning brown fat, according to the study

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/20
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Studies found that turning white fat into brown fat can help people

become more lean, and a Taiwanese study recently found that a compound found in red sage root, better known as Dan-sen, can accelerate the “white-to-brown” process.

According the joint study between a Taipei Medical University’s research team and Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital’s Department of Medical Research, the compound ST32da extracted from red sage root can also help improve fatty liver disease and diabetes.

Dr. Lin Heng of Taipei Medical University explained the process in a statement on Friday that the white fat is the predominant form of fat in the body and exists mostly in the abdomen, thighs, and external organs. The excessive amount of the white fat is believed to instigate an inflammatory reaction and increases risk for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to weight gain.

The brown fat, on the other hand, is believed to be able to consume calories from fat and sugars and radiate them away as heat, according to the other study.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/20
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Just over half of respondents to a survey have given President Tsai

Ing-wen (蔡英文) a passing grade for her performance since taking office on May 20, 2016, according to the poll’s results released Sunday.

On a scale of 0 to 100 points using 60 as a passing grade, Tsai received a passing grade from 50.1 percent of respondents, with 24.6 percent giving her the minimum passing score of 60, according to the survey conducted by Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation.

“On the surface of it, it seemed like a pretty good grade because President Tsai’s performance was graded as passing by more than half of the respondents,” said You Ying-lung (游盈隆), chairman of the polling institute.

But the fact that about half of the respondents who gave Tsai a passing grade scored her performance a 60 is “a warning sign,” You said.    [FULL  STORY]