In an unexpected move, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) yesterday announced that he would withdraw his proposal to determine the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) via a national referendum.
In a short text message, he said it would be “inappropriate” to push forward with the poll at this time.
There has been enormous political upheaval recently and if the referendum were held, it would cause chaos in the legislature, Lee said.
“Considering the current state of relations between the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and the legislature, now would be an extremely inappropriate time to deliberate the issue,” Lee said.
More importantly, the Executive Yuan has said that it will not be able to complete all the necessary safety tests to ensure the plant’s safe operation before the proposed date of the plebiscite, Lee added.
The legislator said that an issue like the nuclear plant that is vitally important to the nation and its people should be discussed only when the government, the legislature and the public are willing to do so.
The referendum question proposed by Lee and other KMT legislators was: “Do you agree that the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be halted and that it not become operational (你是否同意核四廠停止興建不得運轉)?”
The proposed question failed to pass the legislature.
As of press time, Lee could not be reached to comment on whether he consulted with the government or the KMT before withdrawing the proposal or had made the decision of his own accord.
Lee made the proposal in March, after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) in February decided to put the issue of whether to finish building the plant to a vote soon after Jiang took up the premiership.
Both Ma and Jiang have repeatedly said the issue must be resolved “once and for all” as “it has troubled us for more than 20 years.”
Over the past six months, the proposal has been the cause of scuffles among lawmakers during various plenary sessions because the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan Solidarity Union and the People First Party all oppose it.
The opposition has said that the proposal amounted to “game-fixing” to ensure that the construction of the plant would continue because of the way the question was phrased and the high referendum threshold.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that the Executive Yuan would instruct Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia- juch (張家祝) to ask Lee to reconsider the withdrawal, adding that the Cabinet’s position on the referendum remains unchanged.
Meanwhile, the DPP caucus praised Lee’s action and lauded his “good conscience” regarding the “bad timing” of the plebisicite.
Amid speculation that Ma will remove Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) over Wang’s alleged involvement in an influence peddling case, it seems that the president was aiming to push the nuclear referendum forcibly through the legislature, DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
With the withdrawal, Lee was “firing the first shot” at Ma over his unconstitutional, unpopular policies and actions, Ker said.
The withdrawal could also be seen as a vote of no-confidence by KMT lawmakers against Jiang, who endorsed the proposal, Ker added.
“The referendum proposal was fraudulent in the first place,” DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said, adding that the initiative was proposed as a tactic to undermine mainstream public opinion, which opposed the construction.
The DPP urged Ma to immediately suspend the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant because more than 70 percent of the public oppose its completion and future operation, Wang said.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who is collecting signatures to hold a local referendum to stop the installation of fuel rods at the plant, also praised Lee’s move.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he