Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have called for it to be included in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the UN’s COP28 climate summit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Officials from five of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, the Marshall Islands and Nauru — spoke out for the nation at the resumed high-level segment of COP28 on Saturday, the ministry said in a news release.
Haitian Minister of the Environment James Cadet commended Taiwanese for having “done much on climate action,” including financing a large number of projects to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Photo: Reuters
“The ‘status quo’ and different types of exclusion are not an option,” he said.
Belizean Minister of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Orlando Habet called for Taiwan’s “professional, pragmatic and constructive participation” in the UNFCCC process.
Marshall Islands Minister of Natural Resources and Commerce John Silk called on all parties to support Taiwan’s participation in the UNFCCC as an observer, saying it is “ready to share its experience and technology.”
“The people of Taiwan enjoy the same rights as the peoples of other nations. They must not be left behind, nor should their contributions [be] ignored,” he said.
Guatemalan Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Marco Vinicio Ochoa Galindo said that Taiwan has made contributions to bolster Guatemala’s resilience to climate change.
Nauruan Secretary for Climate Change and National Resilience Reagan Moses thanked Taiwan for helping launch its Just Transition Fund to help the island nation adapt to climate change.
The five nations’ statements followed messages of support from the heads of state from Taiwan’s allies Eswatini, Paraguay, Palau, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Tuvalu at COP28’s World Climate Action Summit on Dec. 1 and 2, the ministry said.
The ministry expressed “sincere gratitude” to the 11 countries for taking practical actions to support Taiwan and its participation in the international climate governance mechanism.
As a member of the international community, Taiwan is willing to fulfill its responsibilities and work closely with its diplomatic allies and like-minded international partners to make positive contributions regarding climate change, it said.
The ministry called on international society to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UNFCCC.
The Chinese delegation at the conference raised a complaint over statements supporting Taiwan’s participation, calling them “unacceptable,” Reuters reported on Saturday.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS