Taiwan must draw from foreign countries' experiences in order to reform its energy structure, Premier Lin Chuan stated this afternoon while receiving Ambassador Matthew J. Matthews of the United States at the Executive Yuan.
Taiwan takes energy issues very seriously and has established energy-conservation and carbon-reduction measures in response to global warming, Lin said. The government is now seeking solutions for the energy challenges the nation will face after its nuclear power plants are decommissioned. The administration hopes to build up Taiwan's green energy facilities while minimizing the growth of electricity capacity, under the premise of not expanding construction of traditional power plants.
Ambassador Matthews is the United States' deputy assistant secretary for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands and concurrently its senior official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). He has come to Taiwan to attend and deliver the keynote address at the Conference on Energy Efficiency in Asia, which is being held by the American Institute in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Bureau of Energy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the U.S.-Taiwan Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF). Business and government experts alike are attending the conference, he noted.
Ambassador Matthews affirmed that energy issues are extremely important for both Taiwan and the world, saying that besides boosting economic growth, policies to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions are crucial to the future lifestyle and environment of the human race. He expressed hope that Taiwan and the U.S. will hold more opinion exchanges on this subject at future APEC meetings.
The GCTF is a Taiwan-U.S. cooperation platform established June 1, 2015, to extend the fruits of the two countries' collaboration on global issues to other nations throughout the region via multilateral exchange and cooperation. This platform builds Taiwan's and the region's capabilities and highlights Taiwan's participation in and contributions on global issues.