As an island on the Western edge of the Pacific Ocean, Taiwan is vulnerable to tropical cyclones that develop into typhoons, while its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” makes earthquakes a frequent occurrence. We cannot avoid natural disasters such as these; we can only respond to them.
What about man-made disasters? Industrial development involves hidden dangers. How serious the risks are depends on how well the government manages industrial growth, as well as the social conscience and responsibility of business leaders. Nuclear power and petrochemicals are particularly risky. They are like bombs that could explode at any time.
The government insists that nuclear power is a necessity for power generation and economic development. It wants to go on building nuclear power plants, no matter how much opposition to their construction there may be. Were it not for the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant after a massive earthquake and tsunami in the region in March 2011, opposition to nuclear power could not make any difference to official policy. The halt to construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) is only meant to set people’s minds at ease.
The petrochemical industry is another sector that the government often presents as essential to economic prosperity. Taiwan’s six naphtha crackers are all huge sources of pollution, but industrialists want to build even more. Greater Kaohsiung, in particular, has long been a key industrial base where pipelines carrying toxic and dangerous petrochemical gases run through residential neighborhoods
Two weeks ago, huge explosions tore open a section of Kaohsiung’s Kaisyuan Road and adjoining roads and streets. The blasts are thought to have been caused by propene leaking from pipelines owned by LCY Chemical Corp that were laid stealthily and not properly maintained. As a result, 30 people lost their lives and many more were injured. Adjacent roads and buildings also suffered serious damage, adding up to scenes of death and devastation. This calamity highlights the absurdity of having industrial zones mixed in with residential areas.
This industrial disaster has whipped up a political storm. Dangerous gases should never have been piped past homes and stores, and the pipelines were not subject to standard operation and control procedures. The ensuing political storm involves intrigues and power struggles between various parties and factions. Which officials should take the blame? Who will resign and when? There is no rhyme or reason to it.
Many years ago, residents and activists besieged LCY’s factory in Hsinchu County for more than a year because of its poor safety record. LCY is a big corporation with an annual turnover of more than NT$50 billion (US$1.67 billion), but its attitude following the propene blast has been far from admirable. How can companies get away with such poor management and lack of social responsibility? Over and over again, incidents such as these have exposed a sickness in our nation’s mode of development.
We live in an abnormal country, whose government has always trumpeted development and sees everything from the perspective of its seat of power in Taipei.
Beneath the flashy surface lie all kinds of crises and risks. It is a style of politics that prefers power struggles to building reliable systems.
When man-made disasters strike, ordinary people can only tend to their injuries and console one another.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Julian Clegg
A failure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respond to Israel’s brilliant 12-day (June 12-23) bombing and special operations war against Iran, topped by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the June 21 bombing of Iranian deep underground nuclear weapons fuel processing sites, has been noted by some as demonstrating a profound lack of resolve, even “impotence,” by China. However, this would be a dangerous underestimation of CCP ambitions and its broader and more profound military response to the Trump Administration — a challenge that includes an acceleration of its strategies to assist nuclear proxy states, and developing a wide array
Eating at a breakfast shop the other day, I turned to an old man sitting at the table next to mine. “Hey, did you hear that the Legislative Yuan passed a bill to give everyone NT$10,000 [US$340]?” I said, pointing to a newspaper headline. The old man cursed, then said: “Yeah, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] canceled the NT$100 billion subsidy for Taiwan Power Co and announced they would give everyone NT$10,000 instead. “Nice. Now they are saying that if electricity prices go up, we can just use that cash to pay for it,” he said. “I have no time for drivel like
Twenty-four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are facing recall votes on Saturday, prompting nearly all KMT officials and lawmakers to rally their supporters over the past weekend, urging them to vote “no” in a bid to retain their seats and preserve the KMT’s majority in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had largely kept its distance from the civic recall campaigns, earlier this month instructed its officials and staff to support the recall groups in a final push to protect the nation. The justification for the recalls has increasingly been framed as a “resistance” movement against China and
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) reportedly told the EU’s top diplomat that China does not want Russia to lose in Ukraine, because the US could shift its focus to countering Beijing. Wang made the comment while meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on July 2 at the 13th China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue in Brussels, the South China Morning Post and CNN reported. Although contrary to China’s claim of neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, such a frank remark suggests Beijing might prefer a protracted war to keep the US from focusing on
RSS