The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it would cooperate with the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to work out a project to assist the nation's ally, Tuvalu, deal with problems caused by global climate change.
Tuvalu, one of the nation's 24 allies, is suffering from rising sea levels caused by global warming.
Increasingly intense tropical weather, rising ocean temperatures, and rising sea levels -- all documented results of global warming -- are of immediate concern for Tuvalu, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Donald Lee (
There are about 12,000 Tuvaluans live on nine coral atolls totaling 25km2 scattered over 1.3 million square kilometers of ocean south of the equator and west of the International Dateline.
At its highest point, Tuvalu is no more than 5m above sea level and some scientists say the sea could devour the country within a decade, making its residents the first casualties of climate change.
Lee said that the rise of the sea level had already forced many Tuvaluans to evacuate, many of whom had emigrated to New Zealand
"The ministry will coordinate with the EPA to work out a project to help Tuvalu cope with this disaster caused by climate change," Lee said.
Concrete details had not yet been planned, he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai