Taiwan should be allowed to become a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Luxembourg Green Party said May 21 during a joint news conference in Taipei with the Taiwan Green Party.
Felix Braz, vice president of the LGP, pointed out that the European Parliament passed a resolution March 10 urging that Taiwan be allowed to participate in the UNFCCC as an observer. Braz noted that Taiwan could benefit if it followed a path of green development similar to the one pursued by Europe.
For years, the European Green Party has promoted a series of resolutions calling on Taiwan to join the World Health Assembly, Braz added.
Claude Adam and Henri Kox, LGP members in the Luxembourg Parliament, also attended the media conference.
“It has become a consensus that there is no alternative to a greener economy,” Braz said, adding that within the next five years the European Union is expected to see 5 million new jobs created in the field of environmentally friendly technology.
The LPG also expressed its support for Taiwan’s UNFCCC endeavors when its members met in private with Stephen Shu-hung Shen, minister of Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration, Braz said.
LPG members were recently in Taiwan to participate in the Second Congress of the Asia Pacific Greens Network. These members noted at the news conference that the network passed a resolution May 2, the last day of the congress, expressing its support for Taiwan’s entry to the UNFCCC. Green parties from Australia and New Zealand signed on to the resolution as well, they noted.
Pan Han-sheng, spokesperson of Green Party Taiwan, stressed the importance of eco-diplomacy in Taiwan’s quest for international space, noting that with a per capita carbon footprint three times the world average, “we must take measures that demonstrate to the world that we are a responsible nation.”
The European Green Party, which the LGP is a part of, is the fourth largest party in the European Parliament, occupying 55 seats out of a total of 755. (KL-HZW)