Officials from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and the European Economic and Trade Office yesterday cleaned up a beach in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里), with office director Madeleine Majorenko saying that the office would “adopt” the beach.
The event was attended by more than 250 people, including representatives from the trade offices of Austria, Belgium, France, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia, as well as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kelly Hsieh (謝武樵), local environmental groups and residents.
Majorenko said her office would adopt the beach because “we want to make a long-term commitment to Taiwan.”
Photo courtesy of the European Economic and Trade Office
This was the first time the office joined the regular cleanup, EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said, adding that environmental collaborations between the two agencies have been increasing over the past two years.
Nearly 8 million tonnes of plastic garbage are dumped into the world’s oceans every year, posing a great threat to marine ecosystems, Lee said, citing US Ocean Conservancy data.
The EPA has recommended that the office adopt the Wazihwei (挖子尾) beach, as the agency there began promoting beach adoption about a decade ago, Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substance Management Director-General Yuan Shaw-ying (袁紹英) said, adding that the beach’s location near the city’s Shihsanhang Museum of Archeology allows various activities.
Yesterday’s cleanup lasted only about 15 minutes due to rain, but participants collected about 395kg of garbage and 226kg of recyclable wastes — mostly plastic bottles, bottle caps and straws — and waste from fishing activity.
A survey published by the EPA on Tuesday showed that most tap water and seafood samples collected by the agency contained microplastics.
However, some fish farmers criticized the survey, saying it might cause unnecessary panic among consumers.
The survey is aimed at alerting the public to the aggravating problem of marine waste, rather than urging people to avoid seafood, Lee said, adding that the fishing industry would be more sustainable if people were aware of the problem of pollution and stopped littering.
Hopefully the nation would stop using single-use plastics by 2030 as envisioned by the agency’s action plan launched in February, he said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard
RSS