LAWMAKERS’ PRESSURE: Joseph Wu responded to questions from members of the Foreign and National Defense Committee about efforts to attend the annual meeting
Taipei Times
Date: Apr 12, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
The government will not accept any demeaning titles in exchange for its attendance at this
Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Ho Chi-kung, left, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu yesterday attend a meeting of the Foreign and National Defense Committee at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) vowed yesterday during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
The committee was reviewing the government’s efforts to push for Taiwan’s participation at the WHA, which is scheduled to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 21 to May 26.
When Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) asked if the government would accept observer status under China at the WHA, Wu said: “A major precondition for the nation’s participation [in international events] is that it will not be subject to belittlement. The situation you mentioned is not something we can accept.”
Allies that submitted proposals to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom for Taiwan to attend the have made it clear that Taiwan’s participation, if granted, would represent the nation’s 23 million people, the minister said. [FULL STORY]
