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DPP hits back over
name accusations
NAME GAME: A DPP spokesman said that the party
had never accepted the name ‘Taiwan, China,’ when in power and supported WHO
membership, but not at the cost of sovereignty
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter, with CNA
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) yesterday
rebutted accusations by the Presidential Office that the party had accepted
participation in international organizations under the name “Taiwan, China,”
when it was in power.
Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Chi-tai (范姜基泰) had said it was
“inappropriate” for DPP Chairperson and presidential nominee Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)
to accuse the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration of sacrificing the
country’s sovereignty in exchange for participation in international
organizations, because the DPP administration had also accepted using the name
“Taiwan, China” to secure such engagement.
Fan Chiang said that whether the KMT or the DPP were in power, the Republic of
China faced the same diplomatic dilemma.
Cheng said Fan Chiang’s remarks showed that the Presidential Office was trying
to twist the facts and urged both political parties to strive toward consensus
on the issue based on the idea that the protection of Taiwan’s status as a
sovereign country should be the priority.
He said the DPP administration had never accepted the name “Taiwan, China,” and
that when the principle of universality was adopted into the International
Health Regulations, the US, the EU and Japan voiced their support for Taiwan’s
admission into the WHO, leading to Beijing’s signing of a secret memorandum of
understanding with the WHO secretariat to refer to Taiwan as a part of China.
However, Cheng said the DPP government never accepted such an arrangement.
The DPP supports Taiwan’s full membership in the WHO, but not at the cost of the
country’s sovereignty, Cheng said, adding that this is how the DPP is different
from the KMT.
Meanwhile, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), who arrived in
Geneva -yesterday to represent Taiwan at the World Health Assembly (WHA), said
that the nation was attending the annual WHA with dignity and professionalism as
an “observer” under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
Chiu, who is heading a 17--member delegation, arrived at the Palace of Nations
in Geneva earlier in the day, where the annual WHA meeting will be held from
today until May 25.
He said Taiwan must attend the assembly so that its voice and opinions could be
heard and its national cause defended.
Chiu said he was pleased to be invited to the 64th WHA meeting as a “minister”
and “an observer” to obtain first-hand health-related information for Taiwan.
Chiu also said he would lodge a written protest with the WHO for its denigration
of Taiwan’s sovereign status after a DPP legislator revealed recently that the
WHO intends to refer to the country as “Taiwan, province of China,” in all its
communications.
The delegation members, who will speak at 14 out of the 17 WHA technical
sessions, will introduce Taiwan’s medical care system to the other participants.
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