Environmental groups yesterday expressed hope for rapid improvement in Taiwan’s environmental record during a belated Earth Day meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
During the meeting, the groups urged the president to speed up the drawing of a timeline for carbon reduction while increasing energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy.
However, after the meeting the groups said they were disappointed with Ma’s lack of promises and determination to resolve the climate problem.
Ma had originally agreed to meet the groups last Wednesday on Earth Day, but the meeting was delayed because of a presidential schedule conflict, Green Party Taiwan (GPT) secretary-general Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said.
“We prepared three treasures as presents for President Ma last week — a ‘North Pole shaved ice,’ a ‘Formosan flower’ and a ‘Blue Ocean fish.’ But after seven days the ice has melted, the flower wilted and the fish is already rotten,” Pan said.
“We urge the president to speed up the battle against environmental problems so that Taiwan’s environment doesn’t also rot as a result of government delays. These issues cannot wait,” he said.
At a press conference held after the meeting, the groups voiced their disappointment.
“Ma did not directly respond to our suggestion to convert 4 percent of the nation’s energy supplies into renewable sources by 2012, and 18 percent by 2020,” Society of Wilderness (SOW) president Eddy Lin (林耀國) said.
In addition, Environmental Protection Minister Steven Shen (沈世宏), who joined the groups in the meeting, said that “flexibility is needed” in drawing a timeline for greenhouse gas emission reduction, Lin said.
“This means that there will be no specific reductions set,” Lin said.
Taiwan Natural Trail Society secretary-general Chang Yu-chuan (張尤娟) said that during his election campaign, Ma had proposed lowering the nation’s emissions levels to last year’s levels between 2016 to 2020, and to 2000 levels by 2025.
However, “the recent National Energy Conference failed to establish a clear timeline for carbon reduction because of opposition from industrial representatives; Ma has clearly broken his campaign promise,” Lin said.
The groups also felt that the Ma administration had a predetermined agenda regarding the development of nuclear power, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance director Kang Shi-hao (康世昊) said.
“The recent National Energy Conference was essentially a reinvention meeting for the development of nuclear energy, in spite of all the opposing voices,” Kang said.
“In sum, the nation’s environmental policy is terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible,” Pan said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard