As the indefinite hunger strike by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) enters its fourth day today, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is to meet with DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to address Lin’s demands.
The 73-year-old Lin began his hunger strike on Tuesday demanding that the Ma administration respect the will of the people and halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
Insisting that the decades-long issue should be put to a vote in a referendum in accordance with the Referendum Act (公民投票法), Ma has brushed off suggestions to resolve the crisis, including those proposed by several lawmakers from his own party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The Referendum Act has been dubbed a “birdcage” law that is structurally flawed so that any referendum is doomed to fail, mainly because of its high thresholds.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) met with KMT lawmakers at 5pm yesterday to ensure the lawmakers toe the party line, ahead of a meeting of the legislative plenary session today in which the DPP plans to table a statute that would allow a referendum on the plant to be decided by a simple majority vote.
After two-and-a-half hours of discussions, Jiang convinced some KMT lawmakers, who had earlier advised the government to respond positively to the demands made by Lin and the DPP to end Lin’s hunger strike, to change their positions.
The two conclusions reached at the meeting strictly followed what Ma and Jiang proposed.
First, the government will proceed with construction of the plant and ongoing safety checks and tests, but it will not install fuel rods and will not activate the plant until a referendum is held to decide whether it can be put into operation.
Second, all KMT lawmakers are required to attend the legislative meeting today to block the DPP’s plans to pass the special statute, or else they will face party discipline.
Earlier yesterday, KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) told a group of reporters that he was against the idea of putting the issue to a referendum.
Lin said at the time that he would suggest that the legislature pass a resolution allowing the Executive Yuan to announce, without having to hold a referendum, that the construction of the plant will continue to completion and safety checks and tests will be performed, but the plant will not be activated.
KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) had said that the Executive Yuan should announce a halt to the construction of the plant immediately after the legislature adopts a resolution to support its proposed plan to scrap the facility.
KMT lawmakers Alex Tsai (蔡正元), Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) and Chiang Hui-chen (江惠貞), among others, who had floated other proposals, did not force their ideas through at the meeting.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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