President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was shouted down in Changhua County yesterday while attending a protest he had been invited to over the planned construction of a controversial petrochemical complex.
Before Ma was ready to address the crowd over the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化科技) project, some protesters asked him to sign a letter promising he would express opposition to the project, but the president refused to do so.
Ma’s refusal angered the protesters, who barred him from delivering the speech with repeated chants demanding that he “step down” and asked that he remain seated.
Photo: Juan I-yu, Taipei Times
LISTENING
He told a provisional press conference after the event that he was there to listen to the voices of local residents and that he regretted that he could not go on stage to tell the participants what he thought.
Public opinion would serve as an important reference for his administration’s future decision on whether to build the plant, he said.
It would be an “important” and “key” part of his administration’s decision on the matter, Ma said, adding that he would also ask the Environmental Protection Administration to strengthen environmental controls and regulate particulate matter produced by petrochemical plants.
Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology is an affiliate of state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), which is seeking to expand oil-refining capacity and production of chemicals such as ethylene.
The government argues the capacity is needed to keep the nation competitive in the petrochemical sector in the face of stiff competition from Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Environmentalists believe the complex will create losses that outweigh its economic benefits, including damaging the local agricultural sector and the Dacheng Wetlands (大城濕地), where the complex would be located, while putting the health of local residents at risk.
DPP APPEARANCES
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopefuls Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) also made rare appearances together, arriving within 10 minutes of each other, at the gathering against the plant, a facility both vowed to stop if elected.
The two frontrunners for the DPP nominations have been dodging each other on the campaign trial and the anti-petrochemical plant protest is one of the few events for which both have appeared, signaling strong opposition to the facility.
In addition to Ma, Tsai and Su had been invited by environmental and medical groups that say the NT$600 billion (US$20.5 billion) project could lead to local health concerns and damage sensitive coastal wetlands.
“With both Ma and Su here today, it shows just how important this petrochemical issue has become. Everybody cares about Taiwan’s future,” Tsai said.
However, Tsai and Su separately said they were disappointed to learn that Ma had failed to sign a statement to promise to phase out expansion of the industry and press for stricter air quality regulations. Both the DPP candidates signed the pledge.
In her address, Tsai said the planned project was “not a solution for us now” and would not be “a solution for us in the future.”
She added that now was a time for the country to reconsider its industrial policies.
Su acknowledged the DPP had pushed the construction of the complex when it was in power between 2000 and 2008.
At the time, however, the DPP government chose to build the complex in neighboring Yunlin County to the south, rather than in the Changhua County wetlands, he said.
It was not known if Ma’s decision to attend the rally meant the government had changed its mind on the project.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Huang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said the environmental impact of the project was being reviewed by a panel of experts, but the government did not plan to move it overseas, the United Daily News reported yesterday.
CPC expects the environmental review to be finished by May.Though some shareholders have said they could no longer wait and wanted to move it overseas, CPC, which has a 43 percent stake in the project, wants to make the investment domestically.
Some officials said in private that the project could “die,” judging from the current political atmosphere in Taiwan.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND CNA, WITH STAFF WRITER
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique