Across Taiwan, the government is involved in land speculation in an attempt to save the economy. The combined hidden debt of central and local governments has reached about NT$15 trillion (US$513 billion), an amount that will take more than 60 years to pay back.
Despite this, the government is continuing to add to the debt by initiating large public construction projects on a build-operate-transfer basis. Together, the government and private enterprises have invested more than NT$33 trillion in such projects, with the result that huge amounts of capital have been pouring into the real estate market.
This is an updated version of traditional developmentalism, that is focused on speculation.Encouraged by their superiors, as well as local government leaders, the authorities in charge of the various industries targeted by the central government, such as the National Science Council and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, have proposed many such development projects.
The Cabinet has then categorized these projects as “major national construction projects” and demanded that the agencies in charge implement them. This kind of construction project used to be a guarantor of public benefit, but they are now being seriously undermined by underestimating of project costs and exaggeration of their benefits.
For example, the occupancy rate at the Central Taiwan Science Park is a mere 51 percent and its administration has debts amounting to about NT$136.3 billion. Meanwhile, 1,246 hectares of land at the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park remain unused.
Despite this, those in charge of the evaluation of the fourth-stage development project for the Central Taiwan Science Park remain markedly upbeat.
Local governments are in control of land utilization plans, such as urban and zonal planning. Using development permits for the preparation, changes to, expansion and zoning of these urban plans, local governments are able to convert large areas of farmland and low-usage land into land for construction.
However, the supply of land for urban planning significantly exceeds demand. A report from the Control Yuan clearly states that there is a gap of 6.78 million people between the population quoted as being involved in local governments’ urban planning and the actual population of the involved areas.
According to the Control Yuan, this makes it clear that the population figures quoted in the plans are either false or inflated. Yet, local government continues to exaggerate the numbers in order to be able to redesignate land use.
As the interests of central and local governments and businesses collide, the authorities use their development project plans and land usage plans to achieve their goals. Most of the land involved in both development projects and land use planning is private.
For the sake of land speculation, the government does not hesitate to resort to regular and zonal expropriation, the redesignation of public land and urban renewal, all of which are potential violations of human rights.
As a result of this behavior, many farmers and other citizens have been deprived of land that has belonged to their families for generations, forcing them to leave their beloved homes.
Today, large construction projects mean massive land speculation and forced relocations.
As a result, Taiwan is deteriorating rapidly.
Hsu Shih-jung is a professor in the Department of Land Economics at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under