China delayed Taiwan's 1st major APEC fund in 10 years: MOFA

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) Taiwan established the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) first healthcare sub-fund, aimed at addressing rapidly aging societies, in late May despite months of Chinese obstruction, a diplomat overseeing the initiative said Tuesday.

Jonathan Sun (孫儉元), Taiwan's APEC senior official and head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA) Department of International Organizations, said Taiwan, which participates in APEC as a full member under the name "Chinese Taipei," donated US$1.5 million to establish the fund.

According to Sun, it is the first large-scale initiative Taiwan has launched within APEC in a decade.

However, the process of proposing the initiative encountered numerous difficulties because China is also a member, Sun said.

Asked what kind of obstacles China had posed, Sun noted that APEC makes decisions by consensus rather than by voting, requiring all 21 member economies to agree before proposals can move forward.

During the review process, China offered "advice and suggestions," some of which "were not that reasonable," he said.

In the end, it took 10 months of what Sun described as a "challenging and lengthy" discussion process before the Taiwan-proposed fund was approved, considerably longer than the average approval period for projects proposed by other members.

According to an unnamed source familiar with the matter, a project recently proposed by South Korea was approved within three months.

An APEC press release said the Taiwan-initiated sub-fund "will support the development of future-ready healthcare systems by deploying artificial intelligence (AI), other emerging technologies and innovative policies to improve accessibility, efficiency and equitable health access for all communities in the Asia-Pacific."

The initiative comes as many economies in the region face rapidly aging populations and disparities in healthcare access, it added.