Agricultural lands
A media outlet recently combed through 123,000 real-estate transaction price records on the government’s registration Web site and issued an analysis of agricultural land transactions nationwide in the six years from the second half of 2012 to the first half of last year.
It showed that the average price of agricultural land was NT$48.03 million (US$1.6 million) per hectare, a drastic increase of 220 percent in eight years, or 3.2 times compared with the average of NT$15 million per hectare as recorded in 2010.
According to other data provided by a real-estate company, the average price per hectare of agricultural land in Taiwan in 2016 was 750 times higher than the price in Australia, 157 times higher than the US price, and 14 times higher than the price in Japan.
Even Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) says agricultural land in Taiwan is undeniably the most expensive in the world.
The government’s amendment to the Agricultural Development Act (農業發展條例) in 2000 allowed free transaction of agricultural land and the construction of tax-exempt farmhouses. Speculation has brought the price of agricultural land to the levels of land used for construction. As a result, young farmers cannot afford land, nor is there land to rent.
Rents have also increased sharply by the construction of farmhouses that are illegally used for residential purposes. Landowners would rather sell the agricultural land to developers to build luxurious “farmhouses” than rent it to the young people who return to their hometowns in the hope of becoming farmers.
When a lot of prime farmland is waiting to be sold at a good price, there is a huge loss of farming area across the nation. This is not just a matter of speculation, it also has to do with larger issues concerning the foundation of agricultural development, food security, and ecological balance and preservation.
Developed countries always regard accessibility to land as a basic human right and prohibit opportunistic speculation. For example, Japan, the Netherlands and Germany all implemented a land banking mechanism almost 50 years ago: The governments purchase agricultural land and then rent or sell it to farmers to ensure that it serves agricultural purposes, as that is in the public interest.
The government should improve law enforcement by conducting on-site inspections to see if agricultural land really serves its purpose and whether those who have applied for permission to build farmhouses are really engaged in agriculture, in order to curb speculation so that land usage can be returned to the original purpose of serving practical economic production.
Wei Shih-chang
Yilan County
Deterring invasion
Two Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force J-11 fighter jets crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and entered Taiwan’s airspace at 11am on Sunday. The provocation might be a reaction by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to two US vessels’ recent transit through the Taiwan Strait. On March 24, US Navy destroyer Curtis Wilbur and US Coast Guard cutter Bertholf sailed through the Strait on a diversion from anti-smuggling operations.
The function of the US Coast Guard is similar to Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration — a kind of maritime police force. Its purpose is to enforce the law in US territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. It is a potent symbol of a nation’s sovereignty.
Furthermore, the Bertholf left its base in California on Jan. 20 and made a rare journey covering thousands of nautical miles to reach the Taiwan Strait.
The reason was, first, to respond to frequent incursions into the territorial waters of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) by Chinese coast guard vessels and, second, to demonstrate to Beijing the special position and strategic importance that the Taiwan Strait holds in Washington.
Former American Institute in Taiwan director Stephen M. Young recently said that while China’s military power is on the rise, if Beijing were ever foolish enough to attempt an attack on Taiwan, the US and its allies have a number of measures at their disposal to deter an invasion.
The US Coast Guard sending one of its ships through the Taiwan Strait is one example of what Young was referring to. Behind the scenes, Washington is considering whether it should alter — or even abandon — its “one China” policy, to allow Taiwan to return to the “undetermined international status” it had after World War II.
This is the outcome that the CCP fears the most.
Lin Lei
Kaohsiung
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