Taiwan challenges UN exclusion on sidelines of COP26 summit

Bloomberg

As the world’s powers wrestle over the future of the planet in Glasgow, another politically fractious issue will play out on the sidelines of the COP26 summit — Taiwan’s exclusion from international organisations.
Two weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for Taiwan to have a greater role at the United Nations, a delegation from Taipei, led by Deputy Environment Minister Shen Chih-hsiu, is set to test whether countries are willing to engage with them on the sidelines of the summit and risk igniting the ire of Beijing.
Shen pointed to the changing atmosphere in the US and Europe’s relations with China and said there’s an increasing likelihood Taiwan will be allowed to attend future COP summits as an observer.
“The climate convention emphasizes that every country should shoulder responsibility” for cutting emissions, Shen said in a telephone interview from Glasgow. “If any country is left out, it’s incomplete.”
“This isn’t fair to Taiwan, which is willing to shoulder the responsibility,” he said. The United Nations climate conference runs until November 12.
Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations and is therefore unable to join other states at the summit. Instead, Shen and his team will hold events and meetings on the sidelines in an effort to highlight what the island is doing to combat climate change and engage with attendees.
Blinken’s comments last month were the latest US appeal for Taiwan to have “meaningful participation” in the UN system, such as the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. China hit back at Blinken, saying US support for Taiwan violated the “one China” understanding between Beijing and Washington and could bring “huge risks.”
The Republic of China, which once ruled the mainland before leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan during the civil war, was a founding member of the UN before it lost its seat to the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing in 1971. Since then, China has blocked Taiwan’s efforts to participate in the body, except for a brief interlude of warmer ties between the two sides from 2009-2016. During that time, Beijing allowed Taiwanese representatives to take part in meetings of UN-affiliated bodies such as the WHO as observers under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
Taiwan had previously sent delegations to global climate change conventions as non-governmental organisation observers under the name of the Taipei-based Industrial Technology Research Institute.
There are no plans to strongly protest the island’s exclusion in Glasgow, Shen said.
“We want to be contributors, not trouble-makers,” he said.
While it is unable to sign up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, President Tsai Ing-wen announced the government is planning ways to reach the Paris Agreement goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In October, Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration proposed revisions to enshrine the goal into law.

Taiwan’s technology manufacturers, often at the behest of their international customers, have taken a leading role in pushing the island’s industries to adopt more environmentally friendly methods. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chipmaker, became the first company in its industry to sign up to the RE100 renewable energy initiative last year, pledging to use 100% renewable energy and producing zero indirect carbon emissions from electricity consumption by 2050.
Demand for clean energy from TSMC and other major Taiwanese companies is likely to surge over the coming years, driving a rapid expansion in capacity. TSMC consumed 16,900 GWh of energy in 2020, according to the company’s corporate social responsibility report, while Taiwan as a whole only generated 15,000 GWh in green energy.
The energy deficit is only likely to get worse. TSMC’s electricity consumption is likely to at least double by 2024, according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence technology analyst Charles Shum.

China sanctions three Taiwan leaders in retaliation effort
Bloomberg

China hit three top Taiwanese politicians with what it says are punishments that could be followed by criminal prosecution, as Beijing seeks to retaliate against Taipei’s overtures for greater international support.
Premier Su Tseng-chang, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, Legislative Yuan President You Si-kun and their relatives are all banned from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing said in a
statement.
The trio — and any entities affiliated with them — would also be prohibited from working with mainland-based organisations and individuals, while companies linked to them would be barred from making profits there.
The Taiwan Affairs Office accused Su, Wu and You of “fanning up hostility across the Taiwan Strait and maliciously smearing the mainland,” without naming the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen. “Those who forget their heritage, betray their motherland and seek to split the country will come to no good end,” it said.

Taiwan’s government vowed to retaliate and said it would take countermeasures. Its Mainland Affairs Office said the island plans to review cross-strait cooperation and assess the possible impact of political interference in business operations, as well as consider amending rules to respond to China’s actions, according to a statement.
The sanctions are likely to have little effect on the politicians since they’re unlikely to travel to the mainland or do business there. Still, Chinese authorities must meet public expectations at home for them to take a hard line against Tsai’s attempts to assert the island’s autonomy.
China said last year it was compiling a global watch list of Taiwanese independence backers it plans to punish.
China has ratcheted up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on democratically run Taiwan since Tsai’s election in 2016. While Beijing claims the island is party of its territory, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party argues it’s already an independent country.
Earlier this week, Chinese state media had to quiet online speculation that a conflict may be imminent. The rumors followed a series of military exercises in the region, including more than 200 flights by People’s Liberation Army military planes into Taiwan’s air-defense-identification zone last month.
President Joe Biden has said the U.S. was committed to defending Taiwan from a Chinese attack, although the White House later said that he didn’t announce a change in U.S. policy. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also called for Taiwan to have greater participation in United Nations organizations.