Taiwan has the potential to be at the forefront of the global “green industry” and the government could encourage the public to become more environmentally conscious by imposing a “revenue-neutral” energy tax, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said in Taipei yesterday.
Speaking to an audience of more than 3,000 at the Taipei International Convention Center — including elected officials and corporate leaders — Friedman said a “revenue-neutral” tax is a tax on people’s usage of energy and carbon emissions instead of income. This allows people to continue to enjoy the incentive of working hard for their money while scaling back their use of petroleum, he said.
The government collects the tax and invests the money in clean, renewable energy and other measures to benefit the environment.
Friedman said he had found a close link between oil prices and freedom, especially for people in oil-producing countries. As the price of oil goes down, the pace of freedom in the oil states goes up and vice versa, he said, calling it the “First Law of Petropolitics.”
Bahrain was the first Gulf country to discover oil as well as run out of oil, but it was also the first in the region to establish female suffrage, hold free and fair parliamentary elections and sign a free-trade agreement with the US, he said.
When oil was selling for US$20 a barrel in 1997, Iran elected a leader who called for a “dialogue of civilizations,” he said. Fast forward to 2005, when the price of oil shot up to US$60 to US$70, another Iranian leader emerged and called for the destruction of Israel, he said.
Although challenges, including overpopulation and an over-reliance on petroleum, appear daunting, they could be viewed as a “series of great opportunities disguised as insoluble problems,” he said, quoting John Garner, the founder of Common Cause.
Taiwan’s creativity has been demonstrated by its advanced information technology industry, he said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
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Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all