Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday the DPP's position on building a "nuclear-free homeland" remained unchanged.
However, he emphasized that the administration was bound by a legislative resolution to continue building the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Hsieh was responding to former Academia Sinica president and Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh's (李遠哲) support for the construction of the nuclear power plant. Lee issued a statement on Monday urging the presidential candidates to support the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. The statement was issued by Academia Sinica on behalf of its environment and energy team. Lee is the convener of the group.
The statement said the nation could not obtain sufficient alternative sources of energy and was bound to increase the consumption of coal-fired power if construction of the plant were halted.
While coal took up 32 percent of the nation's total energy in 2000, the statement said that figure is expected to jump to 44 percent in 2025. Carbon dioxide emissions would then increase by 60 percent in 2025 from the 2000 levels, the statement said.
Hsieh said that if elected, his administration would initiate no new nuclear power plant projects and replace the old units with newer, more efficient and lower risk ones.
Lee said yesterday that he had talked to former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), who has vigorously lobbied for a referendum to decide the fate of the new nuclear power plant.
"He did not completely oppose the idea of postponing the nuclear-free homeland policy for 50 years," Lee said.
Nuclear power is a better and more feasible source of energy given the nation's limited energy resources, Lee said in a speech at Academia Sinica yesterday morning. It was necessary to continue the operation of the First and Second nuclear power plants because effective ways of handling nuclear waste were now available, he said.
Lee dismissed speculation that his actions were politically motivated, saying he was just doing what he thought was right. Lee's last-minute endorsement of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in the 2000 presidential election campaign was seen by some as a key factor in Chen's victory.
Meanwhile, Hsieh yesterday attributed the recent announcement of a relaxation of cross-strait economic policy to successful internal party negotiations.
Among the measures proposed was one to attract Taiwanese businesspeople based in China to return home by offering them technological assistance, capital and labor.
Hsieh, who advocates a more liberal cross-strait economic policy, said he would push for the development of a low-risk, low-polluting manufacturing industry that would increase job opportunities.
While it was government policy to encourage Chinese investment, Hsieh said his understanding was that Chinese investors would still be barred from buying property.
Hsieh said he had always opposed Chinese investment in the real estate market because property would become less affordable for younger people if prices rose because of Chinese investors.
While the real estate sector might welcome Chinese investment for the sake of short-term profits, Hsieh said he had always opposed it because it was bound to do more harm than good to the economy.
"I don't think the Executive Yuan or the Mainland Affairs Council [MAC] would allow this to happen because we have talked about it," he said.
Hsieh was responding to questions about a report published in yesterday's Chinese-language China Times, which said that the MAC was expected to allow Chinese nationals to invest in the local real estate market and to ease the limits on the percentage of funds they could borrow against such property.
The report said the MAC was also planning to allow Chinese nationals to borrow money from financial institutions without providing any source of collateral and to extend the period Chinese nationals could stay in Taiwan from 10 days to 90 days.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘NOT SUBORDINATE’: Only Taiwanese can decide the nation’s future, and people preserving their democratic way of life is not a provocation, President William Lai said Taiwan does not want China’s “one country, two systems,” and must uphold its freedom and democracy as well as resolve to defend itself, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, rejecting Beijing’s latest bid to bring the country under Chinese control. The president made the remarks while attending a commissioning ceremony for Taiwan’s first battalion of M1A2T Abrams tanks in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口). The tanks are made by General Dynamics, a major US defense contractor. China this week said it “absolutely will not” rule out using force over Taiwan, striking a much tougher tone than a series of articles in state media
RSS