Less than four months after halting construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四), Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) officially announced yesterday that the project would go ahead after all, saying the move was an unavoidable political compromise.
Yesterday's widely expected announcement follows months of political wrangling and represents an about-turn from the Cabinet's Oct. 27 decision to shelve the plan.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
On that day, Chang held up to TV cameras a photograph of a mother kissing her dead child -- a victim of the Chernobyl nuclear accident -- as a way of explaining the Cabinet's decision to discontinue the project.
Still, despite the policy turnabout, Chang said yesterday he was opposed to nuclear energy.
"To me, this is a painful decision and an inevitable responsibility," Chang said after yesterday's weekly Cabinet meeting. The premier added that turning Taiwan into a nuclear-free country was still his "main goal."
Chang said that after negotiations between the Cabinet and legislature restart, the Cabinet would make the passage of a referendum law (公投法) its top priority, in the hope of devising a way for major policy disputes to be settled by the public.
But the premier brushed aside questions about whether he intended to propose the law with an eye toward having the power plant controversy eventually decided by voters.
Still, the DPP said yesterday the plant's fate should be decided by a referendum -- a consensus reached after the party's central standing committee meeting.
"To expand people's direct participation in the policy-making process, major controversial policies should be decided collectively by all citizens, as is the practice in democracies the world over," DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said.
Hsieh also said the party hoped to win a majority of seats in the legislature during elections at the end of the year in order to have the final say on national policies.
In addition, the DPP chairman also claimed that the opposition alliance in the legislature was pro-nuclear, even though lawmakers have paid lip service to the idea of a nuclear-free country.
Chang, in addition, said that the Cabinet would go all out to facilitate alternative sources of energy and shut down the first, second and third plants as early as possible.
A Cabinet-level "Nuclear-free Country Advisory Committee" (
When asked whether he would resign to shoulder the political responsibility for the Cabinet's inconsistent decision on the plant, Chang flatly rejected the possibility.
"Any move that will sabotage political stability is out of the question. I will continue to act in my current capacity," Chang replied, adding that his previous decision to scrap the plant was neither a violation of the law nor the Constitution.
Chang argued that a new government had every right to change policies after a transfer of power, however, he said he realized now that support from the legislature was also necessary.
With regard to an anti-nuclear parade to be held on Feb. 24 in protest of the Cabinet's announcement, the DPP said yesterday that its members would be allowed to attend the rally.
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