Hundreds of people — mainly university students — last night staged a rally outside the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to protest a petrochemical industrial park project proposed by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (KKPTC), ahead of an environmental impact assessment meeting to be held this morning.
Chanting slogans critical of the project, and urging the EPA to reject it, hundreds of students from universities across the country rallied outside the EPA despite the rain and the cool weather.
“We rally here to tell academics and government representatives taking part in the environmental impact assessment meeting that we’re keeping an eye on them,” said Huang Yu-ying (黃裕穎), a junior student at National Tsing Hua University. “The project should be turned down to protect Taiwan’s agriculture and the rich wetland ecosystem.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Huang went on to say the site selected for the project on the north side of the mouth of Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) is one of the very few large wetlands on the west coast following decades of industrial and urban development.
Besides the rich ecosystem of the wetlands, the area is a key agricultural center, with an active marine-farming industry along the coast that produces about one-third of the country’s oysters.
“The wetlands should be declared a natural reserve and properly protected instead of being used for a petrochemical park,” Huang said.
Sharing his concerns, Changhua-based writer Wu Sheng (吳晟) said it was obvious that the economic benefits the development project would bring did not merit the ecological destruction they would cause.
“Petrochemical plants can only last for a few decades, but the rich ecosystem and the deep-rooted farming culture were developed over hundreds if not thousands of years,” Wu said.
“It’s quite obvious how you should choose if the choice is to be made purely based on scientific considerations,” he said.
A 69-year-old man surnamed Wu (吳), born in Changhua but who now runs a bookstore in Taipei, attended the rally and said he would stay overnight to show his concern for his home county.
He recalled how beautiful the Changhua County countryside was when he was a child.
“Development has changed the situation, and the new petrochemical complex would just destroy everything along with the other petrochemical complex already in existence on the south side of the river mouth,” he said. “It’s the capitalists who are going to enjoy the fruits [from the development project], while the people suffer.”
Several bands performed at the rally to show their support.
Hundreds of local residents from Changhua County are scheduled to join the demonstrators this morning as the meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30am.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS