Hundreds of Tao Aborigines living on Lanyu (蘭嶼), also known as Orchid Island, yesterday held a protest outside the Lanyu nuclear waste storage facility, calling on Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) to remove nuclear waste from the island as soon as possible.
Clenching their fists as they stared straight ahead with angry faces and shouted in low-pitched voices, the Tao, in traditional dress, performed a ritual to drive away evil spirits near Longmen Harbor, the debarking point for nuclear waste from Taiwan proper and where yesterday’s march against the storage of nuclear waste on the island began.
Despite stormy weather, about 500 people from the island’s six villages marched along Lanyu’s west and east coasts, before the two groups joined together for a rally in front of the storage facility.
Photo: Chang Tsun-wei, Taipei Times
“We love Lanyu! Nuclear waste, out!” the marchers shouted.
“It’s been 30 years [since nuclear waste was first stored on Lanyu] and we’ve had enough,” Lanyu Township Councilor Sinan Kamatahen told the crowd.
“Because of the nuclear waste, the health of we Tao people has been deteriorating. We’re worried that, soon, the already disadvantaged Tao people are going to disappear from the face of the Earth,” she said.
“If President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) really cares about Aborigines, he should be more serious about listening to what we have to say, and so should Taipower,” she said. “It’s a matter of life and death for us.”
Since 1982, when the storage facility was completed, about 98,700 barrels of nuclear waste from the nation’s three operational nuclear power plants have been stored at the Lanyu complex.
While Lanyu residents have long protested against the facility, they have become more concerned following the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant last year.
A report released in November last year that said a radioactive leak had been detected outside the facility also added to residents’ concerns.
“Taipower has always told us that it’s completely safe, but how do they explain the high cancer rate since the facility was built?” Sinan Kamatahen asked. “There’s been too much deception, we want the truth.”
Medical records show that in the three decades since the facility began operating, the number of cancer patients has been rising. However, there has been no official investigation into the impact of the facility on residents’ health.
Chang Hai-yu, a preacher at a local church, said it was a tragedy that Tao children are being born into a radiation-filled environment.
Lanyu Township Mayor Chiang To-li (江多利) urged Taipower to remove nuclear waste from the island as soon as possible.
“We protested here 10 years ago and we’re back again today because what Taipower promised us has not yet been fulfilled,” Chiang said. “We’re here again, pleading for the health and life of all Lanyu residents.”
Chiang was referring to a Taipower promise to remove all nuclear waste by 2016.
In response to the protest, Lee Ching-shan (李清山), director of Taipower’s nuclear back-end management department, said the company was sincere about its promise, but that it was a complicated process.
“Ten years ago, we promised to remove the nuclear waste and to check all the nuclear waste barrels,” Lee said. “We completed the barrel check in November and we’re actively searching for a new storage site.”
At the time of the pledge, Taipower said it would find a new site for a nuclear waste storage facility within five years after a set of regulations regarding site selection was adopted by the legislature. It also said it would finish building the facility within five years and the moving process within another four years.
“So far, we’ve had some candidate sites, but referendums by locals are yet to be held to make the final decision,” Lee said. “We’re working hard to fulfill our promise, but I have to say that, because of various delays, we may not be able to make it by 2016.”
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or