Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) and Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr on Wednesday unveiled a commemorative sheet of stamps on the sidelines of the Our Ocean Conference in Palau.
The sheet of stamps designed by Palauan artist Charlie Gibbons is the second to be issued by Taiwan and Palau, after stamps were issued in 2018 to raise public awareness about marine conservation.
Wednesday’s stamps highlight Palauan culture and the need to preserve the ocean.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Among the guests attending a banquet to unveil the stamps were US Ambassador to Palau John Hennessey-Niland, Japanese Ambassador to Palau Akira Karasawa and Australian Ambassador to Palau Richelle Turner.
Chang is leader of a Taiwanese delegation to the 7th Our Ocean Conference in Palau, which is one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies.
It is the first time that Taiwan has been able to send an official delegation to the annual event. Previously, the Taiwanese delegation participated as a non-governmental organization, while the EPA minister attended in a personal capacity
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this year’s conference is committed to taking concrete and significant actions to protect the oceans.
‘TAIWAN’ MYSTERY
Meanwhile, the ministry yesterday said that no reason had been given for replacing “Republic of China (Taiwan)” with “Taiwan” in Chang’s title on the conference’s Web site.
The Web site lists the Taiwanese delegation as one of the participating “Countries/Authorities” under the name “Taiwan.”
Before the opening, the conference’s Web site referred to Chang as the EPA minister of the “Republic of China (Taiwan),” but that has since been changed to “Taiwan.”
Asked at a session of the Legislative Yuan to give a reason for the change, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) did not give a direct answer.
Wu said that it was already a major improvement for Taiwan to be invited to the international conference under the name “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei,” the designation typically used by international organizations under pressure from Beijing.
The change had nothing to do with Palau, which is just cohosting the conference, Wu added.
Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said that the conference organizers did not inform Taiwan before making the change on the Web site.
Separately, the ministry said that Chang on Wednesday attended the conference’s opening ceremony on behalf of Taiwan and sat alongside other foreign delegation representatives in a “Foreign Delegations” section.
The conference, which took place on Wednesday and yesterday, was opened by its cohosts: the Palauan president and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is
RSS