The Shezidao (社子島) peninsula in Taipei is an alluvial plain located at the confluence of the Sindian River (新店溪) and Keelung River (基隆河). Following the disastrous 1953 flooding brought by Typhoon Kit, the Taipei City Government designated the tip of Shezidao as a flood-prone area and banned development, making it available only for agricultural use and green space.
It also stopped issuing construction permits for Yanping N Road Sec 7 to Sec 9 and no construction has occurred in the area for 40 years, with the result that Shezidao now is one of very few undeveloped communities in Taipei.
In May 2010, the Cabinet approved a new flood prevention plan for the Taipei area. Based on a 200-year flood scenario, levees in Shezidao were raised to 9.65m and most of the Shezidao plain was elevated to 8.15m to improve flood prevention.
The municipal development plans for the area take flood prevention as a starting point. They reference the Feb. 28, 2016, i-Voting poll on the development of Shezidao, in which the majority of voters favoured the ecological development plan for the area.
Integrating these plans with Taipei’s city planning, the local population was fixed at 30,000 after development, and it was decided that the area should be connected to the external environment via the Shilin and Beitou district tech industry corridor and the Hongshulin ecological area.
By preserving the ecological wetland along the river banks, turning roads and streets into ecological green corridors, and building parks around historical buildings in addition to smaller parks — while at the same time incorporating leisure space and the living environment — an overall plan is to be created for ecological parks and green space by reviewing idle land and cramped spaces.
The plan is to also make use of surrounding land to connect open, but unconnected spaces and recreate the area’s original attraction and charm.
Any development and construction must be aimed at improving the environment and raising living standards in the area.
However, residents and many cultural workers are concerned about the development of Shezidao and worry that the area’s beauty — which, in addition to its ecological diversity, also includes a rich history and culture, and close local relationships and interactions — could come under attack as these kinds of natural ecological environments and human relations are gradually disappearing from urban areas.
Most of the original Shezidao residents are not opposed to development, but faced with the complicated and opaque development plans, they feel helpless, in particular in matters concerning questionable disputes over fair and just land rezoning and distribution, as well as temporary living arrangements during the development period.
Another issue that must be addressed is the even more difficult question of lifestyle changes and the accompanying economic pressures once development is complete.
When it comes to these issues, the government, as a responsible government in a democratic nation, should step up communication with residents, propose concrete and easily understandable explanations, and protect their legal rights.
It should also provide a complete and feasible program of assistance measures to build credibility and trust among residents, so that the development of the area resolves issues that have been left festering for a long time.
Pan Wei-yiu is the secretary-general of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers