NEW TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan and the Marshall Islands have signed an MOU on climate change mitigation.
The country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kitlang Kabua said on Friday (April 14) that Taiwan’s support has been a key part of her country's fight against climate change.
“The government of Taiwan has been instrumental in supporting us to achieve some of the activities that pertain to climate change,” Kabua said while visiting the Council for Indigenous People on Friday. The minister added that Taiwan’s assistance in providing more renewable energy options to the country has been valuable, and noted Taiwan’s donation of solar powered street lights in 2021.
Kabua said the Marshall Islands is facing severe climate challenges as its territory is made up of thousands of islands that are prone to sea level rise. “We have developed a national adaptation plan as well as a national strategic plan, which is our survival plan in terms of climate change,” she said.
“It stipulates the activities within a 20-year term of what needs to happen for us to maintain our territory, to remain on our islands, we do not want to move,” Kabua said.
She added that with the support of allies like Taiwan, it was less likely that the people of the Marshall Islands would have to move.
The Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Thursday that combating climate change is “one of the most urgent and important national development policies for the Marshall Islands,” and that the MOU would ensure the country’s right to a sustainable existence.
Taiwan will increase cooperation with the Marshall Islands in the areas of green energy and infrastructure, disaster prevention and warning systems, and personnel training, the MOFA statement said.
The Guardian reported recently that growing numbers of Marshallese people are naming their children after the country's many atolls, out of fear they will be submerged by sea level rise and forgotten. The names mean that the children will “be rooted to this reef forever,” one mother said.
The Marshall Islands and Taiwan also signed an MOU that the foreign minister said will help the country build expertise in government and civil society. The agreement will allow “the youth of the Marshall Islands in particular to come and learn about diplomacy here in Taiwan,” Kabua said.
On Wednesday, Kubua met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and reaffirmed her country’s commitment to remaining a formal ally of Taiwan.
She said the relationship with Taiwan was built by Marshallese elders on the basis of democracy and human rights. "The Republic of China, Taiwan, is an important friend and ally of the Republic of the Marshall Islands," Kabua said, per CNA.
The foreign minister also expressed thanks to Taiwan’s Indigenous people for their support in helping to restore the lost art of traditional Marshallese tattooing. Kabua said that her sister is an apprentice of Paiwan tattoo master Cudjuy Patjidres (宋海華), who she will visit in Taichung on Saturday.
“For us in the Marshall Islands, tattooing is the extension of a human being, it’s your identification in a way,” Kabua said. “For the typical Marshallese person, this knowledge is lost, so it is the people of the Indigenous tribes in Taiwan that are helping us Marshallese revive it, through my sister, and hopefully many more afterwards.”
Taiwan maintains formal diplomatic relations with the Marshall Islands and 12 other countries, three of which are in the Pacific region.