뉴스&스피킹(영자신문)
하루 10분이면 영어에 대한 두려움을 극복하고 누구나 유창하게 영어를 구사하실 수 있습니다.
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11.20 - Tuesday
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11.24 
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Chinese-Taiwanese Relations at the APEC Meeting Taiwan is taking part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in San Francisco, California this week.
Because it is an economic gathering, the self-governing island democracy of 23 million people does not face diplomatic restrictions from mainland China.
Taiwan’s chief representative is a civilian, rather than a government official. It is an unwritten rule by China that members of the organization join as economic representatives rather than state officials.
For the seventh time, Morris Chang is representing Taiwan. He is the 92-year-old founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Chang helped establish Taiwan’s place as a top country for high-technology manufacturing in the electronics industry.
Taiwan has participated in APEC since 1991 under the name Chinese Taipei. It began taking part just two years after the group began and the same year that China and Hong Kong joined.
Taiwan has depended on retired ministers and industry leaders, who are connected with the government but who do not have an office within it. The aim is to avoid angering China.
Politics at play
China’s economy has not recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. The country has high youth unemployment and large amounts of debt in a weakened housing sector.
However, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is pushing ahead with his plan for China to retake its historical place as the center of cultural, political, and economic life in the Asia-Pacific area.
Taiwan has a multiparty political system that centers around local issues. There is wide agreement on political separation from China. That presents a special challenge to the communist leaders of mainland China in Beijing.
China wants to end U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, including military planes like the F-16 fighter jet. China also wants the U.S. to confirm it will not help the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party to keep power in Taiwan.
John Kirby is a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson. He said Wednesday that President Joe Biden will make clear to President Xi that the U.S., while following the law, will continue to provide "self-defense capabilities for Taiwan."
Chinese influence
China has sought to influence Taiwanese politics through military threats. It also seeks influence through economic opportunities on the mainland and local politicians.
Taiwanese media has also been persuaded to run stories critical of the current state of independence. That is done mainly through media ownership structures, which involve investments from the mainland.
January’s elections for the presidency and legislature will help decide whether the people want to continue independence or seek closer relations with mainland China.
I’m Gregory Stachel.View -
Migrants Overwhelm Spain’s Canary Islands Fifteen-year-old Guinean Moussa Camara is one of a record 32,000 migrants who have arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands this year. They travel an extremely dangerous path by sea from Africa.
Moussa’s parents are dead. He left Guinea last month. The teenager crowded into a wooden boat with 240 other migrants for the trip to the Canary Islands. The trip took 11 days. They did not have enough food or fresh water.
Twenty people died during the trip, the travelers said. The path they took is considered one of the most dangerous for migrants.
Camara arrived October 27 tired and hungry. He soon faced another problem: police registered him as an adult. That meant he was not permitted into a center for minors with better opportunities available.
Camara was with a friend also registered as an adult at an old military base in Tenerife's mountains. There, about 2,000 migrants await transfers to mainland Spain or permission to go elsewhere in Europe.
Registering him as an adult means that instead of receiving extra support to find housing and education until age 18, he will have to support himself alone.
A bone test would be required to prove his age. But Red Cross papers support Camara's claim that he is 15 and not 18 as the police said.
Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo told Reuters that the registration issues show that the government is overwhelmed by the numbers of arrivals.
"We have neither the resources nor the calm to deal with the avalanche coming in," he added. He blamed police for processing errors as about 100 children a day came into the Canaries.
He said Spain's national government was not dealing with the issue. He said it has only offered to move 347 migrant children to other areas until December.
‘Many more will come’
Additionally, human rights organization Amnesty International said in a recent report that 12 out of 29 migrants it interviewed at adult centers in the Canaries were actually minors.
For children wrongly identified as adults, it is their responsibility to find an aid group to help them. Such supporters can request a bone test for a child to confirm their age. However, the process that can take months.
Amnesty officials said the policy is unfair. The group said such tests should only be used if there was substantial doubt about a migrant’s stated age and no other proof.
There are eight Canary Islands. El Hierro is one of those most affected by migration. The island has a population of 9,000. More than 11,000 migrants have landed there this year.
In one weekend this month, 500 people arrived in El Hierro on four boats. Out of those 500, four people died and about 15 others were admitted to the island's 31-bed hospital.
Clavijo said the European Union should do more to fix the causes of migration from Africa. Current policy was "to mistreat them at borders" out of sight of most Europeans, he said.
"Do you know what a mother or father has to go through to put their six-year-old or seven-year-old son in a (small wooden boat) with 200 or more people they don't know and throw them into the open sea at night?" he asked. "These people don't do it for fun."
Mas Fall is 17-year-old from Senegal. He said the Canaries should expect more young migrants like him. He said the dangerous 1,450-kilometer journey to El Hierro is not going to stop people.
"Many more like me will come," he said in Spanish, newly learned.
I’m Dan Novak.View -
US, China Promise to Work Together on Climate Goals United States climate diplomat John Kerry and Chinese climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua recently agreed to restart a suspended climate working group.
The agreement came at meetings from November 4th to the 7th held in Sunnylands, California, a joint statement released Wednesday said. The statement comes ahead of the COP28 meeting, the United Nations gathering on climate change, in Dubai starting on November 30.
The officials said their countries would aim for new targets for renewable energy and limits on methane gas and plastic pollution. They said some differences remain, like how to stop using nonrenewable energy.
"The Sunnylands statement is a timely effort of aligning the United States and China ahead of COP28," said Li Shuo. He is incoming director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society in Washington, D.C.
China and the U.S. are the world’s two biggest producers of pollution from gases that some scientists say are warming the atmosphere. Li described the relationship between the two countries as “a precondition for meaningful global progress.” He said the Sunnylands agreement will help “stabilize the politics” ahead of the yearly United Nations climate talks in Dubai.
The re-launch of the working group marks the normalization of the climate relationship between the two countries following a break in 2022. That was when former U.S. House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims.
The officials said the working group will deal with areas in which the two countries can work together. They include reducing methane, increasing efficiency and the economic system in which materials are reused, called the “circular economy.” Additionally, the group will exchange information on policies and technologies to reduce pollution. It will also aim to reduce forest loss and plastic pollution.
‘Unrealistic’
China continues to approve new power plants that burn coal to guarantee its energy security.
The United States and China said they support a declaration by the G20, a group of the world’s largest economies, to triple global renewable energy production ability by 2030. They also agreed to speed up the use of energy resources other than coal, oil and gas.
The joint statement said they expect “meaningful” reductions in pollution from the power industry before 2031. But China described the idea of ending nonrenewable energy as “unrealistic.”
The statement listed additional points of agreement. Both sides said they agreed to include methane in their 2035 climate goals. It is the first time China has made such a promise. They also promised to start “at least five” large projects in which they will work together to capture, use and store carbon by the end of 2030.
Li said COP28, the yearly UN climate meeting, still "has its work cut out," especially with nonrenewable energy.
“China also needs to consider what further ambition can be brought to COP,” he added. “Stopping the approval of new coal power projects is a good next step.”
I’m Gregory Stachel.View -
Body of Water in Hawaii Mysteriously Turns Bright Pink A small body of water in Hawaii has turned such a bright pink it could have been used as a set for the movie Barbie. But the unusual color-changing event has some experts concerned.
Scientists say extreme dry weather, or drought, may be the reason for the color. For now, they are warning people not to enter the body of water, called a pond, and not drink from it.
Workers at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge on the island of Maui have been watching the pink water since October 30.
“I just got a report from somebody that was walking on the beach, and they called me up like, ‘There’s something weird going on over here,’” said Bret Wolfe, who leads the refuge.
Wolfe was concerned the bright pink could be a sign of an event called an algae bloom. An algae bloom happens when simple plants called algae grow out of control and cause harmful effects on humans and animals.
But lab tests found harmful algae was not causing the color. So investigators started looking at an organism called halobacteria as a possible cause.
Halobacteria are a kind of single-celled organism that do well in bodies of water with high levels of salt. The amount of salt inside the Kealia Pond area is currently greater than 70 parts per thousand, which is twice the amount of salt in seawater. Wolfe said the lab will need to perform DNA research in an effort to identify the organism.
Researchers feel that Maui’s drought is likely adding to the situation. Normally, another body of water called Waikapu Stream feeds into the pond and raises water levels there. But Wolfe said that has not happened in a long time.
When it rains, water flows from Waikapu Stream into the pond and then into the wider area that is now pink. This reduces the amount of salt and could possibly change the water’s color.
“That might be what makes it go away,” Wolfe said.
None of the workers, or even some volunteers who have been around for 70 years, have seen the pond this color before. It has been through periods of drought and has had high amounts of salt before. But Wolfe is not sure why the color has changed now.
Visitors have come to the area after photos of the pink pond appeared on social media.
Wolfe said he would love to have visitors come to learn about local aims to protect nature. He joked, “But no, they’re here to see the pink water.”
He understands everyone’s interest. “If that’s what gets them there, it’s OK,” he said.
The wildlife area is a wetland that protects endangered birds like the Hawaiian stilt and the Hawaiian coot. It also protects birds that are traveling to warmer areas in the winter.
The water does not appear to be harming the birds, Wolfe said.
As a protected area, people are not supposed to enter the pond or let their animals in the water. But officials have issued a special warning for people not to enter the water or eat any fish caught there.
I’m Gregory Stachel.View -
Landmines Causing More Casualties in Ukraine and Myanmar An international report shows increased use of landmines in Ukraine and Myanmar led to sharp rises in casualties in those countries last year.
International Campaign to Ban Landmines created the report, called Landmine Monitor 2023. The Switzerland-based group provides research and monitoring services on world land mine use. The group is a coalition of non-governmental organizations supported by the group Human Rights Watch.
The devices studied in the report are known as anti-personnel mines. This means the mines are built to target humans, not tanks or other military equipment.
The report states that Russia “used antipersonnel mines extensively in Ukraine since its all-out invasion of the country in February 2022.” The document notes Russia is not part of an international treaty that bans the use of antipersonnel landmines. The anti-personnel mine ban agreement was completed in 1997. The United States is not a party to it.
The report also found evidence that Ukraine, which is part of the mine ban treaty, had used anti-personnel mines in and around the cities of Izium and Kharkiv. It said the mines were found as Russian forces battled Ukrainian troops in the areas.
The Campaign to Ban Landmines recorded 4,710 injuries and deaths in 2022 around the world. This was down from 5,544 casualties in the year before. But in Ukraine, the number of civilian casualties from landmines went from 60 in 2021 to about 600 in 2022.
Mark Hiznay is with Human Rights Watch and helped write the new report. He expressed concern about Russia’s use of landmines in its military operations in Ukraine. Hiznay said it was the first time since the mine ban treaty was approved that a country that is not part of the treaty, Russia, had used such weapons against a treaty member, Ukraine.
Hiznay said Russia began using landmines in 2014 in support of pro-Russian separatist forces in the disputed Donbas area of eastern Ukraine. “Russia has made extensive use of landmines in places like Afghanistan and Chechnya,” he said. Hiznay said he believed Russia had supplied 35 or 38 different countries with landmines over the years.
Ukraine has said it would look into accusations from a Human Rights Watch report. The report provided details of “numerous cases” of Ukrainian forces deploying banned anti-personnel mines in its war with Russia.
The report said 85 percent of casualties from landmines and “exploded remnants of war” last year were civilians. About half of the casualties were children. The highest number of casualties, 834, was recorded in Syria in 2022. This was followed by Ukraine with 608 casualties, and Yemen and Myanmar, which each recorded more than 500 casualties in 2022.
In Myanmar, Hiznay said the government has been using anti-personnel landmines since 1999. But that changed in recent years. “It is just bigger,” Hiznay said. “You have more use by the government forces and more use by various non-state armed groups.”
Currently, 164 countries have signed onto the mine ban treaty, which bars the use, storage, production, and transport of anti-personnel mines. The report said 30 states who are part of the treaty have cleared all mined areas from their territory since the treaty came into force.
I’m Bryan Lynn.View