On July 25 the committee at the Ministry of Economic Affairs that is presently discussing the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant obtained a report from John Large & Associates concerning Taipower's past misrepresentations of radioactive waste destined for North Korea. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was made aware of the contents of this report on July 28. He vaguely addressed the issues in this report during his speech on the following Monday. This report is very damaging to Taipower, yet it will most likely not be made public.
Premier Tang-Fei (唐飛) has informed certain members of the Taiwan media that the fourth plant will be built. He is not interested in the commit-tee's discussion. Tang says he will resign if the president tries to stop the plant.
The Large report raises serious questions concerning Taipower's ability to handle another nuclear facility. If it is made public, people might have a strong reaction to its contents.
So, why doesn't Chen make the report public? If he wants an honest evaluation of this issue, one would think that he would allow the public access to such important information. He must know Tang's position. Maybe the committee meetings are a "sham" to appease public concerns, as well as protect the president's position with the DPP legislators.
Ho Wai-chi
Greenpeace China
Military not blocking case
I am very disappointed by the Taiwan newspapers for reporting that the Ministry of National Defense has not been working very hard at solving the 1993 Yin murder case. I am very proud to say that I feel that the ministry has been performing a great job and I am honored to have been invited three different times over the past three years to utilize forensic hypnotism. We had some very positive results on all three visits to Taiwan.
When I first came to Taiwan back in 1994, the ministry even approached me back then to try to help them with this case. In my opinion the ministry has always cared about reaching a conclusion to this situation.
The press is treating the military unfairly by saying that they have not worked diligently to solve this case. They have worked very hard over the past few years to try to resolve this case, and they will continue to do the very best that they can. Tom Silver
Hypnotherapist, USA
Japan's identity
The obsession of the Japanese in seeing themselves as unique in the world is excessive. Their notion of excluding Japan from Asia is difficult to understand ("Determining exactly what is Asia," Aug. 3,Page 8). Asia is a concept of continent and, thus sits on the same level with Africa, the Americas, Europe and Oceania. Unless Japan does not belong to the earth, they have to pick one of the five continents to call home.
Everybody knows that East Asia or Northeast Asia includes Japan. It is a big surprise to many Europeans when the Japanese insist that they are not Asians. Before trying to (re)define what Asia is, the Japanese should face their inferiority complex (as correctly interpreted by Der Spiegel) and admit to themselves how insecure they are in denying their identity. Being Asian is not a shame. Face it; then it can be meaningful to talk about what Asia is.
Sing Young
Taoyuan City
Incomplete MRT station
The Lungshan Temple MRT station in Wanhua has been in service for over half a year now. It is one of the more high-profile stations in the system, bringing tourists, worshippers, and revelers to enjoy the Lungshan Temple, Snake Alley, and the teeming night market on Guangzhou Street -- not to mention the thousands of commuters who continue on by bus from Wanhua to Panchiao and other points west.
The last seven months have seen many improvements, including both 7-Eleven and Cosmed convenience stores. Now the station even boasts an Eslite bookstore and one of those hoity-toity pseudo-Francais bakeries.
What the Lungshan Temple station does not have, however, is an escalator going from the lobby up to ground level. For the last seven months, all those thousands of commuters have been forced to either wait for an elevator or trudge up the four flights of "temporary" stairs which now occupy the space where an escalator would normally be found.
Although I have not actually checked every station in the MRT system, I have had occasion to use a couple-dozen at least, and so far the Lungshan Temple station is the only one I have found that does not have at least one escalator to ground level. It seems an odd choice -- picking such a high-profile, high-traffic station to be the only one without this basic modern convenience. After spending umpteen-gazillion dollars to build the system, why can't somebody round up the couple-hundred-grand needed to install an escalator? Just curious.
John Diedrichs
Taipei
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