Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化) might seek an alternative overseas location — possibly in Malaysia or Indonesia — for a proposed naphtha cracking plant, after the planned site in Changhua County was ruled out.
Moving overseas would be an option for Kuokuang, Wu said, adding that E United Group (義聯集團) had relocated a steel plant to Vietnam after concerns emerged about the environmental impacts the project might have on wetlands and lagoons in Greater -Tainan’s Cigu District (七股).
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Friday in effect halted the Kuokuang project by asking the state-owned CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), the largest shareholder, to withdraw from the project that would have required a NT$632.5 billion (US$21.9 billion) investment to build the capacity to refine 300,000 barrels of crude oil daily and produce 1.2 million tonnes of ethylene annually.
The government had previously said that without the Kuokuang project, the nation would face ethylene shortages by 2015, when the fifth naphtha cracker in Greater Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District (楠梓) is closed.
However, in a clear break from that stand, Wu said: “There will be no immediate impact” on the nation’s petrochemical industry caused by the decision to stop the Kuokuang project.
The first stage of the Kuokuang complex had been aimed at replacing the 500,000 tonnes of -ethylene lost when the Nanzih plant is shut down as the government had promised after residents protested long and hard against it.
“It would still be several years before the Kuokuang complex would come into operation even if Kuokuang was allowed to start construction as scheduled,” Wu said, adding that the government had measures in place to ensure sufficient supply of materials for mid and downstream industries.
Ma said on Friday he would not support building the proposed project in a Changhua County wetlands area, but left open the possibility that other sites in Taiwan could be considered. Reports have suggested the complex would now be relocated southwards to -Kaohsiung’s Linyuan (林園) or Dalinpu (大林蒲) areas.
Both Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and the -Kaohsiung City Council immediately opposed the idea of having the petrochemical complex in their area.
The city “does not welcome the Kuokuang petrochemical complex” and would not accept any attempt by the central government to move a highly polluting industry there, Chen said.
Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源) said Greater Kaohsiung residents inhale “toxic gases” daily, with the pollution coming from heavy industry and petrochemical plants.
With the Kuokuang project now in limbo, some have asked if it could return to the location originally suggested in Yunlin County, just south of Changhua County.
However, the Yunlin County Government was also quick to nix the idea.
“By no means can it be accepted,” a Yunlin County government official said.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS