President vows to make Taiwan sustainable maritime nation

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) vowed on Monday to develop Taiwan into a sustainable maritime nation as the country marked World Oceans Day and its first-ever National Oceans Day.

“Taiwan is surrounded by ocean. Oceans connect us to the world and bring limitless possibilities,” Tsai said on a Facebook post.

“Aside from continuing to strengthen maritime security, we will diversify our maritime industries, in consideration of ecological conservation and sustainable maritime development,” Tsai said, adding that she will encourage the country to embrace the oceans through friendlier regulations and policies.

June 8 was recognized as World Oceans Day by the United Nations in 2008, 16 years after the concept was introduced by Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit.

Taiwan, for its part, has set the same date as National Oceans Day through legislation in 2019 in support of the World Oceans Day initiatives and to raise public awareness of marine conservation in Taiwan society.

Tsai said the government will continue to introduce policies that promote maritime affairs and make Taiwan a “sustainable maritime nation in which ecology, prosperity and security can coexist.”

The president also invited the public to visit an exhibition organized by the Ocean Affairs Council, held Monday at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center, in which the accomplishments of several ocean-related agencies are on display.

Meanwhile, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) shared a video message from its director, Brent Christensen, on Facebook, congratulating Taiwan on National Oceans Day.

“The AIT is proud to partner with the Ocean Affairs Council in hosting the Southern Taiwan Youth Ocean Forum in 2019, promoting youth awareness on maritime protection issues,” Christensen said.

“I hope that the United States and Taiwan will continue to deepen their partnerships in maritime issues in the future, promote the sustainable development of maritime industry and resources, and take part in activities related to marine ecosystem protection,” he added.

Apart from the youth forum, Taiwan and the U.S. in 2016 also co-organized the Taipei-leg event of the Fishackathon, a science and technology contest that seeks to address sustainable fishery challenges.

(By Yeh Su-ping, Chen Yun-yu and Emerson Lim)

Source: https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202006080020