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.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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