On yesterday’s second anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan, green parties from seven nations in the Asia-Pacific region made a joint statement calling for the phasing out of nuclear power.
The Green Party Taiwan (GPT) held a live online press conference with the Asia Pacific Greens Network (APGN) at its office in Taipei, in which it issued a joint statement called “Post-Fukushima: Pathway to a Green Economy.”
The statement said the global impact of the Fukushima disaster highlighted the responsibility of all nations to ensure the safety of their citizens and protect the planet for future generations.
The party said that of the 59 nuclear reactors being built at present around the world, 40 are located in the Asia-Pacific region, and called on the people of the region to support sustainable green economies.
GPT spokesman Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said the government and Taiwan Power Co (台電) warn of power shortages should nuclear energy be phased out, but this scenario is based on overestimations of future electricity consumption.
The government should improve efficiency in the use of electricity and develop sustainable green energy, he added.
Conveying the words of Greens Japan’s steering committee member Rikiya Adachi, Pan said the mistakes made at Fukushima should not be repeated, and that nuclear power plants should be shut down and not allowed to reopen.
“The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is still dangerous … It is said that it will take at least 40 years to decommission the plant,” the Greens Japan statement said.
“Radioactive contamination was widely spread around Tohoku and Kanto regions, and ‘hotspots’ have even been confirmed around Tokyo. Millions of people are forced to live their lives exposed to radiation in the air, soil, water and food,” it added.
Meanwhile, a publisher announced that a textbook for Taiwanese junior-high school students will include an advertisement produced by the Interchange Association, Japan to thank Taiwan for its support in 2011.
The ad will appear in the section on civil participation in the textbook on society, Kang Hsuan Educational Publishing Group said.
Starting next year, the textbook will be available to students in their final year of junior-high school, the publisher said.
To mark the first anniversary of the disaster, the Interchange Association’s Taipei office last year produced an advertisement featuring a group of Japanese students from the affected areas expressing gratitude to Taiwan for its generous donations and assistance.
Following the earthquake and tsunami, Taiwan donated about US$260 million in relief and reconstruction aid to Japan, 90 percent of which came from private donors. This was the highest amount from any country.
The thank-you ad by the association serves as a good example of the importance of civil participation, the textbook publisher said.
The association’s Taipei office said it is pleased the advertisement is to be included in the textbook and again expressed gratitude for Taiwan’s support following the disaster.
The association represents Japanese interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.
Additional reporting by CNA
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS