On May 22, the Taiwanese community in Belgium along with overseas students held the event "Health for All, Taiwan can Help - the bid to support Taiwan’s entry into WHA" at Place Jean Rey in front of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, receiving wide support from the Ambassadors of our diplomatic allies, members of the Belgian Parliament, and overseas community members
On May 22, Ambassador Roy Chun Lee, together with staff from the Representative Office and their families, attended the "Health for All, Taiwan can Help - the bid to support Taiwan’s entry into WHA" event held at Place Jean Rey in front of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. The occasion was organized by Mr. Shan-Lin Lai, member of the Overseas Community Affairs Council, jointly with other members of the Taiwanese community in Belgium and overseas students.
Sibusisiwe Mngomezulu, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Eswatini to Belgium and the EU; Jesse Jean, Ambassador of the Republic of Haiti to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the EU; Gianni Avila, Ambassador of Belize to the EU; José Gabriel Lambour, Ambassador of the Republic of Guatemala; and Federico Bartolozzi, Minister of the Republic of Paraguay to the EU, all attended the event and voiced their support for Taiwan’s international participation. In addition, Georges Dallemagne, Member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and Co-President of the Belgium-Taiwan Friendship Group; Sarada Das, Secretary General of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME); and Vasyl Kushmuns, President of Promote Ukraine, were also all in attendance to lend their public backing to the cause.
In his speech, Ambassador Lee began by thanking the Taiwanese community in Belgium for supporting the government's pursuit of international participation through practical actions. He said that the World Health Organization (WHO) excludes Taiwan which creates a gap in international public health governance. As Taiwan has not yet been invited to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA), he added, current global health coverage is far from universal and is not conducive to jointly preventing the next global epidemic. Finally, Ambassador Lee stated that the rights and interests of all Taiwanese should not be subject to outside political interference and called for Taiwan to be involved in the WHO’s Pandemic Agreement.
Echoing Ambassador Lee's calls, the local politicians and representatives from our diplomatic allies in attendance also praised Taiwan's contributions to international public health, and urged all like-minded countries to join hands and work together to ensure Taiwan's international participation to help achieve global health and well-being. Whether Taiwan can participate in the WHO is not only related to the interests of a single country, but rather, it is a matter that has consequences for the entire international community.
More than 100 Taiwanese and Europeans from all walks of life attended the event to show their support, enthusiastically holding up banners and slogans to express the sincere appeal of all Taiwanese people. We thank all of the local politicians, ambassadors, Taiwanese community members, and overseas students for coming out and expressing their full support for Taiwan's participation in the WHO!
