Russia on Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution formally linking climate change and global security that was supported by a majority of UN member states.
Backed by Niger and Ireland, the draft resolution called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “integrate climate-related security risk as a central component into comprehensive conflict-prevention strategies.”
The text won support from 12 of the council’s 15 members.
Photo: UN via AP
China abstained, while India voted against it, saying that global warming is chiefly an issue related to economic development, rather than international security.
The resolution had called on the UN secretary-general to report within two years “on the security implications” of climate change on issues addressed by the council, and sought recommendations on how these risks could be addressed.
For diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity, Russia’s opposition was difficult to understand, given that the resolution itself “was not radical,” one of them said.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that there was “no justification” for the veto.
Before the vote, Irish Ambassador to the UN Geraldine Byrne Nason said that the resolution was only a “modest first step.”
“We need to better understand this link” between security and climate change, she said, adding: “We need to look at it globally.”
Nigerien Ambassador to the UN Abdou Abarry called opposition to the draft resolution “shortsighted.”
Following the vote, Nason and Abarry denounced vetoes — which permanent council members the US, Britain, France, Russia and China have been able to wield since the UN was founded after World War II — as “an anachronism.”
“This council will never live up to its mandate for international peace and security if it does not adapt. It must reflect the moment we are now living in, the threats to international peace and security which we now face,” they said.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS