A delegation from Taiwan's Tai Ji Men qigong society is currently visiting Johannesburg to popularize Chinese kungfu and people-to-people friendship.
The 53-member Tai Ji Men Group, led by society founder Dr. Hong Tao-tze, has sponsored several discussions pertaining to sustainable development and staged kungfu performances and Chinese singing and dances over the past several days as activities sidelining the ongoing World Summit.
At the discussions, Hong said people around the world have excessively sought for economic gains which have in turn incurred new and varied problems to the environment and the global society as a whole. As a result, he said, people have become increasingly alienated. Confused and suspicious, people easily tend to begin conflicts which will in turn result in disaster.
More than 20 Taiwan groups of wildlife conservationists and environmental activists have flown to Johannesburg to take part in non-governmental organizations' activities which sideline the World Summit for Sustainable Development.
The Taiwan private societies, which together call themselves the Taiwan Action Non-Governmental Organizations (TANGOs), will also introduce Taiwan's achievements in other areas of environmental protection over the past 10 years, including the protection of butterflies.
According to Wang Chun-hsiu, head of the TANGOs, Taiwan representatives will also distribute promotional "Taiwan butterfly passports" at the venue of the summit to popularize global "green diplomacy."
Meanwhile, an official delegation from Taiwan, headed by Yeh Chun-jung, a minister-without-portfolio in the Executive Yuan, is taking part in the "Government Forum" conference of the Earth Summit. Taiwan takes part in the UN conference as an observer.
Other Taiwan officials taking part in the conference include Environmental Protection Administrator Hau Lung-bin as well as officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Council of Agriculture.
The Taipei-based Tai Ji Men qigong society has just made a performance tour of Africa and central America.
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