Saying he has taken public concerns over the safety of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to heart, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised his administration would listen to and communicate with people from all sectors of society before making a decision on the issue.
“Civic groups, women’s groups and the Alliance for Mothers to Oversee Nuclear Power Plants have all voiced their concern. We all live on the same island and face the same challenges. We will be very cautious in establishing public facilities,” Ma told Cabinet members.
In an apparent response to a call made by Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation board director Irene Chen (陳藹玲) that the government should seek to learn more about the nuclear energy beyond official briefings, Ma said his administration “will definitely take into account all their opinions.”
Since 1992, when the first budget for the construction of the Forth Nuclear Power Plant cleared the legislature, the facility has been continuously under construction, regardless of which political party was in power, Ma said.
“Now we need to reflect on what to do [with the plant], how other countries in a similar situation dealt with the issue, what the status of the nation’s energy demand would be in the future and whether we can afford higher energy prices if we changed our energy sources. All these are questions that we need to think over,” he said.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said that since the Cabinet was just formed a week ago, it would not make a decision on the issue now, but that it would be a priority for discussion in the new legislative session, he added.
“I hope it would be a joint decision by everyone following a public discourse, in which everyone exchanges in-depth views on the issue instead of digging in with their pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear stance,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) demanded that Ma suspend the plant’s construction and its additional budget allocation immediately, as well as pass a bill promoting a nuclear-free homeland.
Speaking in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), where the power plant is located, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said continuation of the construction would be “a wrong policy of immeasurable cost for Taiwanese society” and that the DPP would “fearlessly engage in the anti-nuclear movement.”
Su, more than 100 staffers from DPP headquarters and dozens of local anti-nuclear activists gathered in Gongliao yesterday for a traditional “spring banquet,” as well as to highlight their commitment to make Taiwan a nuclear-free country.
Four of the 14 most dangerous nuclear reactors in the high-hazard areas of earthquake-prone regions are in Taiwan, Su said, citing a Wall Street Journal report, which was published on March 19, 2011, after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant incident in Japan.
“It’s pretty obvious that [construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant] is not a path we should keeping on taking. Ma should not be ambiguous on his position and should act now,” he said.
Su said that promoting a nuclear-free homeland has always been one of the DPP’s core values since its founding in 1986, when the anti-nuclear movement was just beginning and could scare away voters in elections.
Former premier Yu Shyi-kun said Ma and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had been “irresponsible and immoral” with their accusations that Su and former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) supported the construction and allocation of additional budget for the power plant, which has cost more than NT$300 billion (US$10.1 billion), when they served as premier and vice premier respectively.
The former DPP administration did not want to allocate funding for the project at the time, but was forced to do so because the KMT held a majority in the legislature, he said.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
STREAMLINED: The dedicated funding would allow the US to transfer equipment to Taiwan when needed and order upgraded replacements for stockpiles, a source said The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a defense appropriations bill totaling US$838.7 billion, of which US$1 billion is to be allocated to reinforcing security cooperation with Taiwan and US$150 million to replace defense articles provided to the nation. These are part of the Consolidated Appropriation Act, which the US House yesterday passed with 341 votes in favor and 88 against. The act must be passed by the US Senate before Friday next week to avoid another government shutdown. The US House Committee on Appropriations on Monday unveiled the act, saying that it allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative
RSS