President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of February 25 with the United Kingdom's Special Representative for Climate Change Sir David King. After welcoming Sir David to Taiwan, the president briefed him on the substantive achievements of Taiwan's efforts to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Sir David last visited Taiwan in March 2003 during the outbreak of SARS in Taiwan. As the British government's chief scientific advisor at that time, noted the president, Sir David overcame enormous challenges in assembling a team of medical experts from the UK to come to Taiwan to help combat the outbreak. President Ma said he deeply admires the courage and passion demonstrated by Sir David.
The president stated that the UK is Taiwan's third largest trading partner in Europe and its second largest export market there. The two sides maintain cooperative relations in many areas, he said, adding that the closest cooperation is carried out in the area of energy. The president pointed to the annual Taiwan-UK Renewable Energy Roundtable Meeting, which was initiated in 2006 and has rotated between the two sides annually. He also said the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has recently been working with the Taiwan Power Company on matters related to the retirement of the First Nuclear Power Plant here. Furthermore, the president pointed out, in June of last year Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute began working with British counterparts to develop the Taiwan 2050 Calculator, a web-based communication platform that anyone can use to explore the ramifications of different energy policy choices. Government agencies can use this platform, which was launched in last November, to analyze their options for responding to changing conditions. This will be immensely helpful in ensuring Taiwan's energy safety, he commented.
In discussing Taiwan's efforts to conserve energy and reduce carbon, as well as the successes achieved thus far, the president explained that six years ago Taiwan's population stood at about 23 million people, or 0.3% of global population, but its carbon emissions accounted for 1% of the world's total. Relatively speaking, he said, Taiwan is no longer a small carbon emitter, which is why, when he first ran for president, he clearly called in his platform for Taiwan to cut annual carbon emissions in 2020 to the 2008 level, and to further cut them in 2025 to the level of 2000. After many years of efforts, Taiwan's carbon emissions have already returned to the level of 2005, the president remarked.
President Ma stressed that the ROC's unique diplomatic situation has prevented it from becoming a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and that our nation has also been unable to attend many international conferences on climate change. He noted that Taiwan is only able to participate in non-government organizations. Nonetheless, Taiwan is still determined to conserve energy and cut back on carbon emissions, the president said.
Lastly, President Ma mentioned that while the UK is extremely rich in such resources as petroleum and natural gas, and is actively developing renewable energies such as wind and tidal power, the UK is still continuing to develop nuclear power and has even decided to construct a new nuclear power plant. That nation's ability to reach such a decision stems from the close communication that UK government has long maintained with the public, he said. In addition, he mentioned, in its energy policy the UK government takes the position that fossil fuels will one day be depleted and that increased carbon emissions pose a significant global threat, so the need to reduce carbon emissions is more urgent than the need to do away with nuclear energy. President Ma remarked that the ROC is one of the nations most deeply impacted by extreme climate events. Taiwan each year experiences earthquakes, typhoons, and flooding, so the UK's energy policies are of great value to Taiwan, the president said.