About 200 people who live within the boundaries of Kenting National Park in Pingtung County forced their way into the Legislative Yuan yesterday as an Internal Administration Committee meeting was in progress to protest against the National Park Act (國家公園法).
Holding signs that read “We want our right to survival” and “The National Park Act is illegitimate and unjust,” the residents forced their way through a side gate and tried to get into the meeting room as soon as they learned that the Internal Administration Committee had begun an article-by-article review of revisions to the act.
In recent weeks, the Internal Administration Committee has been reviewing amendment proposals made by both the Cabinet and lawmakers to the National Park Act, the first since it was enacted in 1972.
However, Kenting residents — many of whom lived in the area before it was designated a national park in 1982 — worry that the stricter regulations in the proposed amendments could limit their freedoms.
While in its current form Article 17 stipulates that construction or demolition of public or private buildings must obtain government approval, the proposed revision adds that repairs must also be approved by the authorities.
“My house is very old and I need to do repair work on it from time to time. Will I have to wait for my house to collapse if my application to renovate it is rejected?” a protester asked through a loudspeaker.
“We want lawmakers to hear what we have to say,” local borough chief Tsai Cheng-jung (蔡正榮) said. “There have been too many restrictions on our daily lives since Kenting National Park was created. It doesn’t make sense to make the laws even more strict.”
Tsai said the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) — which manages national parks — had not organized public hearings to hear residents’ opinions before making the proposals.
Police officers guarding the legislature attempted to prevent the protesters from entering the compound, but as there were only about a dozen police at the scene, the demonstrators were able to go in.
When protesters discovered that the doors to the meeting room were locked, they tried to get in through a connecting room next door, but were pushed back by police.
Protesters finally agreed to leave after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), who presided over the meeting, called it off and asked the MOI to hold public hearings before any further reviews.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said national parks should be divided into “urban” and “natural reserves.”
“In urban national parks, such as Kenting and Yangmingshan, where people have lived for generations, we should loosen restrictions to make it easier for residents,” she said. “For national parks with little human activity, such as Yushan National Park, however, we could make laws more strict to protect the ecosystem.”
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS