Italy bans flights from Taiwan because the WHO listed Taiwan "under China"
(1 Feb) Yesterday, Italy began restricting all flights from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China. Johnson Sen Chiang - Director-General of European Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan) - said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed discontent and concern upon receiving the notification. Discussions revealed that the World Health Organization (WHO) listed Taiwan under China, leading Italian Ministry of Health officials to restrict Taiwan flights from landing in Italy. However, this does not necessarily reflect Italy's political stance on whether Taiwan is part of China.
Jaushieh Joseph Wu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China plans to hold an international press conference tomorrow to specify that Taiwan and China are different and address the WHO's categorisation issue.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: WHO's miscategorisation misleads other countries
Chiang stated that more than 60 countries and regions ban Chinese but not Taiwanese flights. This showed that many countries knew the difference between Taiwan and China. Italy referred to information from the WHO, which evaluated China's risk as being the highest and made a footnote that Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were included. The categorisation was an error that misled the Italian Ministry of Health to make the wrong decision.
At the moment the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is negotiating with Italy and making its discontent and concern known to the WHO. Chiang emphasised that it does not mean Italy believes Taiwan is part of China. The WHO's mistake is separate from Italy's political stance.
On the other hand, Vietnam's ban of Taiwanese flights this afternoon was lifted in the evening after successful negotiations. To avoid similar situations of having to explain the difference between China and Taiwan to other countries, Wu will hold an international press conference tomorrow to address the issue.
Source: Liberty Times
https://m.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/3054770
#Coronavirus #WHO #OneChina #Taiwan #Italy #Vietnam #Miscategorisation
(1 Feb) Yesterday, Italy began restricting all flights from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China. Johnson Sen Chiang - Director-General of European Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan) - said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed discontent and concern upon receiving the notification. Discussions revealed that the World Health Organization (WHO) listed Taiwan under China, leading Italian Ministry of Health officials to restrict Taiwan flights from landing in Italy. However, this does not necessarily reflect Italy's political stance on whether Taiwan is part of China.
Jaushieh Joseph Wu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China plans to hold an international press conference tomorrow to specify that Taiwan and China are different and address the WHO's categorisation issue.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: WHO's miscategorisation misleads other countries
Chiang stated that more than 60 countries and regions ban Chinese but not Taiwanese flights. This showed that many countries knew the difference between Taiwan and China. Italy referred to information from the WHO, which evaluated China's risk as being the highest and made a footnote that Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were included. The categorisation was an error that misled the Italian Ministry of Health to make the wrong decision.
At the moment the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is negotiating with Italy and making its discontent and concern known to the WHO. Chiang emphasised that it does not mean Italy believes Taiwan is part of China. The WHO's mistake is separate from Italy's political stance.
On the other hand, Vietnam's ban of Taiwanese flights this afternoon was lifted in the evening after successful negotiations. To avoid similar situations of having to explain the difference between China and Taiwan to other countries, Wu will hold an international press conference tomorrow to address the issue.
Source: Liberty Times
https://m.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/3054770
#Coronavirus #WHO #OneChina #Taiwan #Italy #Vietnam #Miscategorisation