The government will try to participate in the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) “in a way that will see the country gain more respect and uphold its sovereignty and dignity,” a senior official said yesterday.
Environment Protection Administration (EPA) Deputy Minister Chiou Wen-yan (邱文彥), who was named yesterday to head a group of 20 to 30 officials and academics going to the Copenhagen summit in December, made the remarks in a telephone interview.
“As Taiwan is an independent, sovereign country, there is no doubt that the [past] format was unacceptable … We hope to find a way in which Taiwan’s dignity and sovereignty is respected and it will not be considered by the international community as part of China’s territory,” Chiou said.
PHOTO: CNA
As Taiwan is neither a UN member nor a signatory to the UNFCCC, its representatives have attended previous UNFCCC sessions as members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or by joining the team from the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a state-owned research facility in Hsinchu.
The four groups that have obtained access to the event, however, have been listed as based in either “Hsinchu, China” or “Taipei, China.”
On the conference’s official Web site, ITRI was listed as based in “Hsinchu, China,” while the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association, the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation and the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy are listed as being from “Taipei, China.”
Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday called a meeting to explore strategies on meaningful participation in UN agencies.
“At the Copenhagen conference we will lay more emphasis on Taiwan’s intention to participate in the UNFCCC and the contribution we can make to the world instead of the country’s name and status. We know the international political reality facing Taiwan,” Chu said.
A civil expert who has frequently attended UN conferences on climate change over the past 14 years said on condition of anonymity that the country’s NGOs were registered as “Taiwan” in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but their names were changed to “Taiwan, Province of China” at some point.
The government said last month that Taiwan planned to participate in the UNFCCC and the UN International Civil Aviation Organization, but said that the name it would use had not been decided yet.
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition