Standing in front of a giant banner hanging from a water gate and emblazoned with the words “protect the water,” hundreds of farmers and farmers’ rights activists yesterday protested at the source of an irrigation channel in Changhua County’s Sijhou Township (溪州) over the Central Taiwan Science Park’s (CTSP) plans to divert water from the irrigation system.
“Water is already scarce and [the Changhua County Irrigation Association] only supplies water through irrigation channels four out of every 10 days,” Hsieh Pao-yuan (謝寶元), a farmer and president of the Alliance Against Water-Jacking by the CTSP, told the crowd. “With the CTSP planning to take more water from the irrigation channel, we Chang-hua farmers are going to be left with nothing — that is why we have to stand united and protect the water.”
Hsieh’s remarks drew a round of applause and cheers.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times
The farmers are worried because the association plans to build an underground aqueduct to supply more than 65,000 tonnes of water from the main Cizaipijun (莿仔埤圳) aqueduct to the latest campus in Erlin Township (二林).
The water in Cizaipijun comes from the Jhuoshui River (濁水溪) and is controlled by the water gate where yesterday’s rally was held.
Hsieh and other farmers are worried that the park’s diversion of the water could have a huge impact on farming families that depend on the irrigation channel to make a living.
“The Cizaipijun irrigation system supplies water to 180,000 hectares of farmland in southern Changhua County, including Sijhou, Erlin, Jhutang [竹塘], Dacheng [大城] and Fangyuan [芳苑] townships, which feed more than 30,000 farming families or more than 100,000 people,” Hsieh said. “The park said it would hire tens of thousands of people locally, but do they plan to feed so many people?”
The participants then performed a rite of worship to the river god, praying for him to protect the water.
Farming activist Yang Ju-men (楊儒門) questioned the legality of the plan to divert water from farms to industrial uses.
“Article 18 of the Water Act [水利法] stipulates that the allocation of water should follow the following order: first, family use; second, agricultural use; third, hydroelectric power plant use; and only then industrial and transportation use,” Yang said. “So it’s illegal to divert water from farms to the science park, especially when there is already insufficient water for irrigation.”
Sijhou Mayor Huang Sheng-lu (黃盛祿) accused the Irrigation Association of not informing residents before contracting out the aqueduct project.
He said, although the project was contracted out in December, the association only contacted the township office four months ago to ask if it could provide a venue for a public hearing.
Pointing to earlier comments by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that “if you care about the agricultural sector, you should not harm the farmers,” Taiwan Rural Front spokeswoman Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧) said that the lack of water was the most serious issue for farmers.
“The problem is not how much 1kg of bananas sells for, the real problem is that the government is trying to rob farmers of their land and water,” Tsai 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
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS