Taiwanese firms planning to voice their environmental concerns at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) next week may see their plans thwarted by Beijing, delegates to the summit said yesterday.
On July 27, the Taipei Times exclusively reported that Taiwan had been slated to present the successful experiences of five enterprises and their investments in environmental protection at one of the summit's parallel events.
Representatives of the Business Council for Sustainable Development, Taiwan (企業永續發展協會), are to join the World Business Council for Sustainable Development at the council's regional network event on Aug. 30 to present five successful cases involving Taiwanese firms which demonstrate that "doing the right thing" can actually yield financial gain.
The successes of the five Taiwanese enterprises are detailed in the book, Developing Value: The Business Case for Sustainability in Emerging Markets, that was published in July by the International Finance Corporation (a member of World Bank Group), the strategy consultants SustainAbility and the Ethos Institute in Brazil.
The Taipei Times' report, "Report lauds environmental efforts of five corporations" (July 27, page 2), has been included in the WSSD Info News Issue No. 8.
Funding for the production of WSSD Info News has been provided by several governments, including the Netherlands, Canada, the US, Switzerland, the UK, the European Commission, Denmark and Germany.
The Taipei Times story reporting the achievements of the five Taiwanese firms has been widely distributed around the world through the WSSD Info News, capturing worldwide attention from many countries, including China.
"Because of China's interference, the council kindly suggested I present [the material] at the meeting as a panelist rather than a speaker," Niven Huang (黃正忠), secretary-general of the business council, told the Taipei Times yesterday.
According to Huang, China's aggressive action surprised the council because topics discussed at the Business Forum, one of at the summit's side events, also known as the Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD), are not politically sensitive.
Huang said that China seems to have forgotten that Taiwan is the third leading foreign investor in China, helping it to solve problems pertaining to unemployment and poverty.
"China's performance, in a way, is hilarious because economic exchange now tops political interaction," Huang said.
Huang said that Taiwan was doomed to be hampered at any international event held by the UN due to its status as an outsider.
Huang said that high-ranking government officials have been fully aware of this and that they would seek ways to communicate with influential overseas CEOs and high-ranking officials by participating in activities on Sept. 1, which has been designated by the UN summit as Business Day.
Taiwan will try to use what it learns at the summit to determine other ways to reach out ot the global community, particularly in Africa, the government's delegates to the summit said.
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