Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said operations at one of the Formosa Plastics Group's oil refining units in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) would remain suspended until the cause of the fire on Sunday has been identified and rectified.
Wu made the remarks after meeting Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-feng (蘇治芬), Formosa Group representatives and residents, as part of a trip to the county yesterday — his first visit to the area since a fire broke out at the No. 6 naphtha cracker complex.
Wu said permission to resume operations would only be given once an examination of the factory had been completed and it meets all the requirements to ensure operational safety.
Wu added that the Formosa Group had agreed to the township’s request to cover the expenses needed for residents from Mailiao and the nearby Taisi Township (台西) to have health examinations.
Residents will be compensated for agricultural, fish and livestock losses as a result of the pollution generated by the plant, Wu said.
The Labor Inspector Institution and the Institute of Occupational Safety and Heath are in the process of writing an initial assessment report on the causes of the fire, Wu said, adding that the Formosa Group should also present ways to improve its safety measures within one week of the initial assessment report’s completion.
The fire on Sunday, the second in a month, has resulted in severe air pollution and huge losses for local agricultural and fishery industries in Mailiao. There has also been strong opposition from local residents to a planned expansion of the petrochemical complex that is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment by the government.
On Thursday, Su led a group of Mailiao residents to Taipei and staged a protest outside the Executive Yuan, demanding the government set up an independent investigation committee to examine the cause of the blaze. Wu did not meet the protesters at the time.
Earlier yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) called for the Executive Yuan and Yunlin County Government to clarify the responsibilities associated with the fire accident.
“Both the central and the local governments should be responsible for the accident and should work together to solve the problem, rather than cause any confrontations,” Ma said during a meeting with representatives from the Chinese National Federation of Industries at the Presidential Office.
He said the government attaches equal importance to economic development and environmental protection, but if the two issues conflict, environmental protection would win out.
Citing the Basic Environmental Act (環境基本法), which states that environmental protection should be the priority if any economic or technological developments cause damage to the environment, Ma said his administration would handle related issues by adhering to the act.
“The government will have more discussions with the industry and adjust the policy on the development of local industries. We will seek to strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection,” he said.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS