ECFA is carcinogenic
The government recently approved 207 applications (including 192 applications pertaining to industrial products and 15 applications pertaining to agricultural products) for Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) production site certificates. The industrial products are predominantly petrochemicals, followed by machining and textiles. According to the ECFA, China will allow the import of 557 Taiwanese items, in which petrochemicals are the major items. This means Taiwan will export mainly petrochemical products to China.
The national cancer map for 2008 shows that after the sixth naphtha cracker started operation in 2001, Yunlin County and adjacent Chiayi County have cancer death rates that are 1.23 to 1.53 times higher than the national average (“Say no to proposed Kuokuang project,” Dec. 22, 2010, page 8). The incidence of cardiovascular disease and strokes also clearly increased and carcinogens emitted by the petrochemical industry were found in urine samples of residents near the naphtha cracker.
The proposed Kuokuang petrochemical complex involves building the nation’s eighth naphtha cracker in Changhua County’s Dacheng Township (大城). Unless the proposed project is canceled, residents of Changhua will suffer the same fate as their counterparts in Yunlin and Chiayi.
In addition, ecology in the wetland and flora and fauna in the vicinity will be damaged.
Taiwan should not export petrochemicals to China at the cost of the health and lives of Taiwanese. It is ironic for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to order national security-level steps to increase the nation’s birthrate and, at the same time, to promote the construction of the Kuokuang complex that will emit carcinogens to kill Taiwanese. Apparently, the Kuokuang project is to meet Chinese market demand.
Is the ECFA a tool for prosperity in China and death in Taiwan?
Scaling down the project by one-third is not a solution. Complete cancellation is the only solution.
CHARLES HONG
Columbus, Ohio
Playing the blame game
The shooting on Sunday of US Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was an appalling crime. Yet the insinuation in your front-page piece on Monday that this is somehow Sarah Palin’s fault or the fault of the Tea Party movement is absurd; such a claim is little different from the claim that violence on TV causes violence in real life (“US lawmaker shot in the head, in critical condition,” Jan. 10, page 1).
Yet although it may be absurd, the purpose of slipping it into the subhead and elsewhere in the report is transparently manipulative: To discredit generally conservative or libertarian criticism of big government by tenuous association with the appalling actions of an apparent lunatic.
Yet any honest observer of the numerous demonstrations and events held by the Tea Party movement throughout the last year must admit that US conservatives — even the hardcore constitutionalists — are simply not lunatics calling for the summary execution of politicians. To say such a thing is dishonest; to insinuate it is both devious and dishonest.
MICHAEL FAGAN.
Tainan
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
RSS