The environmental impact assessment (EIA) general assembly concluded that a road construction plan, which has sparked protests over a perceived threat to endangered leopard cats in Miaoli County, should be returned to an EIA specialists’ meeting for further review.
About 400 people gathered outside the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) building in Taipei yesterday afternoon to protest against the plan.
The protesters included environmental activists, civic groups, academics and many students and netizens who responded to a call made by the Taiwan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Taiwan SPCA) through Facebook, asking the public to help save the leopard cats by blocking the road construction plan.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The planned 8.28km bypass road for Provincial Highway No. 13, stretching from Tongluo Township (銅鑼) to Sanyi Interchange of Freeway No. 1, first gained EIA approval in 2003, but after construction delays, the local government proposed an EIA review on amendments made to the plan.
Environmentalist Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said the planned road would cut through a very important habitat for the leopard cats.
Their population is estimated to be only between 400 and 600 in Taiwan, Pan said, adding that their remaining habitats in Miaoli County are being destroyed by several development projects.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Kurtis Pei (裴家騏), a professor at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Institute of Wildlife Conservation, said records from about 100 years ago showed the leopard cats were found everywhere in the nation, but research in the past decade showed that they can only be found in the lower mountainous areas of Miaoli and Nantou counties.
“Being threatened by many development projects, the leopard cats are fleeing in all directions, but they might not be able to find suitable new homes,” he said. “I believe the many transportation specialists can come up with better alternative plans to solve traffic problems without destroying the leopard cats’ habitats.”
Shanyi resident Yeh Chi-hao (葉旗豪) said the local government could expand Provincial Highway No. 13 or build more parking lots to solve traffic congestion problems that only occur on weekends, instead of constructing a bypass.
Hundreds of Miaoli residents, led by Sanyi Township (三義鄉) Mayor Hsu Wen-ta (徐文達), arrived at the EPA building to voice their support for the local government’s plan.
Just before the meeting began, Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) also arrived, prompting protesters to shout slogans such as “Liu Cheng-hung, step down,” and “Leopard cats don’t only belong to Sanyi, but to all of Taiwan.”
During the meeting, Liu said the local government has already planned a 40-hectare area as ecological compensation for the endangered animal, which “should be very helpful to the ecology.”
Liu said the local government would allocate a budget for species conservation, but “we need local development, because Shanyi is a township of tourism.”
The Forestry Bureau said its three-year research showed Miaoli has the largest leopard cat population, so it is not in favor of the construction project, but if the road is necessary, then an elevated road would be better because it would prevent habitat fragmentation.
A committee member asked whether the local government’s plan to set up tunnels as ecological corridors for leopard cats to move from one area to the other would be effective, because no study has proved the method’s effectiveness.
Another committee member asked whether the bypass would solve congestion problems for vehicles traveling to the area, because the road would go around the township.
After more than three hours of discussion, the meeting concluded that because the area is an important habitat for the endangered species and there was not enough research to show that the local government’s compensation measures would be effective, more discussion would be needed before a decision could be made.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,