Greenpeace Taiwan on Friday apologized for the delineation of Taiwan into Chinese territory in a report published by the foundation’s Beijing office.
Greenpeace Beijing on Wednesday published research on China’s consumption of coal and water resources, but its maps showed Taiwan as part of China.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights former director Chiu Yu-bin (邱毓斌) on Friday said on Facebook that Taiwanese donate more than NT$100 million (US$3.27 million) to Greenpeace International each year, and yet it went so far as to include Taiwan in China.
Greenpeace International has only a few employees in Taiwan and the group rarely makes contributions to Taiwanese issues, Chiu said, calling on people to donate to local environmental groups instead.
Greenpeace East Asia later in the day issued an apology, saying the map was a “mistake.”
Greenpeace East Asia vice director Cristina San Vicente said in the statement that the report cited data from the Global Coal Plant Tracker database, but Taiwan was not part of its research plan and should not have been included in the report.
“The error has been corrected to more correctly reflect the research results. Regarding confusion caused by the wrong diagrams, Greenpeace feels deeply sorry,” San Vicente said.
The Taiwan and Beijing offices are Greenpeace East Asia’s constituents.
Many people have called the foundation to protest, the Taiwan office’s global information and technology specialist Lee Chih-an (李之安) said.
“Environmental issues are Greenpeace’s priority,” she said, adding that the foundation’s 144 employees in Taiwan have been working to connect local and global issues, such as energy transformation and plastic pollution reduction.
Meanwhile, some reflected on the differences between the international group and local environmental groups.
Organizations should be careful with their publications, rather than making apologies afterward, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan consultant Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) said yesterday.
As more international organizations have established branch offices in Taiwan, they should understand the nation’s “status quo,” he said.
It is not that organizations ought to explicitly state their political stances, but they are supposed to make conscious decisions and explain those choices to their supporters, he added.
Some voices said that Greenpeace Taiwan had made a lot of money from Taiwanese, but did little for the nation, but Tsai said that such criticism was not fair.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS