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.
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
‘IRRESPONSIBLE’: Beijing’s constant disruption of the ‘status quo’ in the Taiwan Strait has damaged peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region, MOFA said The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China’s launch of another military drill around Taiwan, saying such actions are a “unilateral provocation” that destabilizes regional peace and stability. China should immediately stop the irresponsible and provocative actions, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said, after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) yesterday announced the start of a new round of joint exercises around Taiwan by the army, navy and air force, which it said were approaching “from different directions.” Code-named “Justice Mission 2025,” the exercises would be conducted in the Taiwan Strait and in areas north, southwest, southeast and east of Taiwan
RSS