Before he passed away, former Yilan County commissioner Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) told Formosa Plastics Group that Yilan did not want the petrochemical industry there because it was highly dangerous and would pollute the environment. These remarks made many residents question the future of Yilan. However, without the petrochemical industry, Yilan has relied on its natural resources and become internationally known for its annual Children’s Folklore and Folkgame Festival.
Now, a similar situation is happening on the banks of the Jhuoshui River (濁水溪.) More than a decade ago, Yunlin County welcomed Formosa Plastics Group into Mailiao Township (麥寮) and the county government guaranteed local residents this would make the area prosper. However, this was soon proved wrong by endless industrial safety accidents, environmental pollution, losses incurred by farmers and fishermen, large numbers of residents leaving the area and local residents getting cancer.
After Kaohsiung residents kicked out Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co from their city, the company become interested in the beautiful intertidal zone of Dacheng Township (大城) in Changhua County. The company started using slogans about increasing local prosperity, local population and consumption to trick local residents and cover up the damage that a petrochemical plant could have on the local environment. These slogans are very similar to the ones used by Formosa Plastics Group before it built the sixth naphtha cracker plant in Mailiao Township.
Dacheng is also located at the mouth of Jhuoshui River. It is a poor rural town that the petrochemical industry now has its eyes on. Petrochemical companies could not care less about whether this area is home to the humpback dolphin or the beautiful ecology of the intertidal zone. Nor do they care about Wanggong Township (王�?ysters, the focal point each year of the Wanggong festival. Nor do they care about the livelihoods of fish farmers and the elderly who have lived there generation after generation by gathering oysters after the tidewaters recede every day.
After the 921 earthquake rocked Taiwan, researchers issued a warning to towns in areas suffering from serious ground subsidence, saying that ground water functions as a super shock absorber and that it can help absorb the energy released by an earthquake and minimize the damage.
Changhua County lacks water resources and ground water is needed to meet the demands of daily life, farming and fishing. A large part of Jhuoshui River has been redirected at Jiji for use by the sixth naphtha cracker and farmers along the river have no choice but to take even more ground water for irrigation uses. The government plans another barrage in the upper parts of the Dadu River (大度) to provide the Kuokuang petrochemical plant with water for its daily use.
This means farmers along the river will have to dig even deeper wells to get water for irrigation. If one day a major earthquake were to happen along the west coast, after having lost all the natural protection offered by the ground water, Changhua would be in a terrible state.
The past suffering of Mailiao residents cannot be erased, but the fate of Dacheng residents can still be changed. Once land and habitats are lost, they can never be regained. We would be looking forward to a much brighter future if we could manage to preserve the natural beauty and purity of Dacheng.
Lin Hong-jung is a Presbyterian pastor in Dacheng Township in Changhua County.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
In an article published by the Harvard Kennedy School, renowned historian of modern China Rana Mitter used a structured question-and-answer format to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Taiwan and China. Mitter highlights the differences between the repressive and authoritarian People’s Republic of China and the vibrant democracy that exists in Taiwan, saying that Taiwan and China “have had an interconnected relationship that has been both close and contentious at times.” However, his description of the history — before and after 1945 — contains significant flaws. First, he writes that “Taiwan was always broadly regarded by the imperial dynasties of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will stop at nothing to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty, going as far as to create complete falsehoods. That the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never ruled Taiwan is an objective fact. To refute this, Beijing has tried to assert “jurisdiction” over Taiwan, pointing to its military exercises around the nation as “proof.” That is an outright lie: If the PRC had jurisdiction over Taiwan, it could simply have issued decrees. Instead, it needs to perform a show of force around the nation to demonstrate its fantasy. Its actions prove the exact opposite of its assertions. A
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
RSS