Looking back at major social events in Taiwan over the last century, I believe that late Yilan County commissioner Chen Ding-nan’s (陳定南) decision to not allow Formosa Petrochemical Corp to build the sixth naphtha cracker in his county had a great impact on the environment and the residents in that area. It was an historic event to which some additional thought should be given.
At the time, many officials spoke up in favor of Formosa Plastics Group when the government was making the environmental impact assessment of the plant, but they failed to examine the group’s environmental record both at home and abroad. In addition, they did not review Taiwan’s environmental protection standards to find out if they were perhaps too lax or whether law enforcement was accurate.
Still, in the face of the high compensation offered by Formosa Plastics Group, Chen made his view very clear when he said that compensation was not the issue, but rather it was whether or not the plant would be allowed, because from the perspective of national land utilization, Yilan was not an appropriate site for the plant.
Albert Einstein once said: “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.”
Chen insisted that economic development and national income were not the only indexes that counted and that Yilan should be a clean place with clean air, mountains and water. This is the reason why Yilan, 20 years later, can produce Kavalan Whisky there.
If we now look at towns and villages around where the sixth naphtha cracker plant ended up being constructed, in Yunlin County, the plant brought with it pollution, fires and toxic gas leaks, threatening and harming the health of local residents. Today, almost all the teachers and students at the surrounding schools need to wear facemasks in class.
What should we do now? Should the plant be relocated or the schools? Perhaps the best choice for Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬), as she faces problems from the plant’s pollution, is to look back at how Chen handled the case: Compensation is not an issue; the issue is whether the plant can be relocated.
Chan Chang-chuan is a professor at National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on April 9 said that the first group of Indian workers could arrive as early as this year as part of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India and the India Taipei Association. Signed in February 2024, the MOU stipulates that Taipei would decide the number of migrant workers and which industries would employ them, while New Delhi would manage recruitment and training. Employment would be governed by the laws of both countries. Months after its signing, the two sides agreed that 1,000 migrant workers from India would
Japan’s imminent easing of arms export rules has sparked strong interest from Warsaw to Manila, Reuters reporting found, as US President Donald Trump wavers on security commitments to allies, and the wars in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons supplies. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party approved the changes this week as she tries to invigorate the pacifist country’s military industrial base. Her government would formally adopt the new rules as soon as this month, three Japanese government officials told Reuters. Despite largely isolating itself from global arms markets since World War II, Japan spends enough on its own
On March 31, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs released declassified diplomatic records from 1995 that drew wide domestic media attention. One revelation stood out: North Korea had once raised the possibility of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In a meeting with visiting Chinese officials in May 1995, as then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) prepared for a visit to South Korea, North Korean officials objected to Beijing’s growing ties with Seoul and raised Taiwan directly. According to the newly released records, North Korean officials asked why Pyongyang should refrain from developing relations with Taiwan while China and South Korea were expanding high-level
When 17,000 troops from the US, the Philippines, Australia, Japan, Canada, France and New Zealand spread across the Philippine archipelago for the Balikatan military exercise, running from tomorrow through May 8, the official language would be about interoperability, readiness and regional peace. However, the strategic subtext is becoming harder to ignore: The exercises are increasingly about the military geography around Taiwan. Balikatan has always carried political weight. This year, however, the exercise looks different in ways that matter not only to Manila and Washington, but also to Taipei. What began in 2023 as a shift toward a more serious deterrence posture
RSS