The National Academy of Marine Research (NAMR) on Friday unveiled guidelines that it said would steer the nation’s development for maritime technology over the next decade.
The academy is affiliated with the Ocean Affairs Council.
NAMR president Chiu Yung-fang (邱永芳) publicized the “Marine Technology Policy Guidelines” at a conference of the Taiwan Ocean Union at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung.
In April 2018, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that it is especially important for an island nation to have a maritime policy, so Taiwan must enhance its maritime laws to promote maritime industries, and improve the nation’s maritime research and development capabilities, Chiu said.
In compliance with Tsai’s directives, the academy drafted the Ocean Basic Act (海洋基本法), which passed its third reading on Nov. 1, 2019, and issued a maritime policy white paper in June last year, Chiu said.
Since November last year, the academy has been meeting with academics, yielding 172 suggestions from different sectors, Chiu said, adding that the suggestions were discussed thoroughly and formed the cornerstone of the guidelines.
The main goal of the guidelines is to help the nation develop “smart ocean” capabilities, which would foster improved research and development capabilities, and promote maritime industries, making Taiwan a maritime power in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Another core issue would be to tackle climate change, Chiu added.
The guidelines’ 33 action plans adhere to nine main goals, which include establishing infrastructure for the development of maritime technology, improving national security, fostering sustainable maritime development, promoting maritime industries, increasing the use of technology to monitor and manage maritime activities, and promoting marine-based human ecology, Chiu said.
The guidelines closely follow goal 14 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: To conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources, he added.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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