President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday engaged in a heated discussion over the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, but failed to reach any consensus during the 90-minute talk.
Ma said the nearly completed plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) must be finished so it can be “maintained in operable condition.”
“That way, we will have an operable nuclear power plant that can be put into operation when we need it. If construction is terminated now, the plant will be scrapped,” Ma said in response to Su’s urging that the plant be stopped.
Photo: CNA
The two men met at the Presidential Office, while former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) entered the fourth day of what he has said will be an infinite hunger strike to back calls to terminate the project, as mainstream public opinion demands.
Su suggested two ways to end the plant project, but both were rejected by Ma.
Su first suggested that the Executive Yuan announce a halt to the plant and present a report on the decision to the legislature for approval, although it is a constitutionally allowed way for a change to major policy.
Both the DPP, which was in power for eight years, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are responsible for the project, which has been a source of controversy for more than three decades, Su said.
“Let us together resolve the issue,” the DPP leader said.
“If you want, in line with the [Council of Grand Justices’] Constitutional Interpretation [No. 520], the Executive Yuan can propose to the legislature to stop the plant,” Su said.
However, Ma said that when the DPP administration called a halt to building the facility in October 2000, the stock market plummeted from 6,400 to 4,600 points and stayed down for three straight months.
He “would rather not repeat that mistake,” Ma said.
“It would have too much of a [negative] impact on society,” he said.
Terminating the project now would also create a massive waste of money, given the estimated NT$280 billion (US$9.23 billion) that has been invested in the project over three decades, he added.
“We cannot waste money like that. The construction of the plant ought to be completed. Installing fuel rods in the plant’s reactors is also part of the construction process,” the president said.
Su said it would cost the nation NT$46 billion more to complete the plant, in addition to the cost of conducting safety checks.
Su also brought up putting the fate of the plant to a national referendum, which Ma said he agreed with.
However, Ma declined to promise that as KMT chairman he would not use party disciplinary measures to demand that KMT lawmakers toe the party line on issues related to referendum thresholds.
If the nuclear issue is put to a referendum, thresholds lower than those specified in the Referendum Act (公民投票法) should be applied to the vote, if it is not decided by a simple majority, Su said.
That none of the six national referendums held so far have seen a voter turnout of over 50 percent, as required under the 2004 act for a referendum to be valid, has proved that it was a “bird cage” law that dooms any referendum to fail, Su said.
“Chairman Su, have you used party discipline to force DPP lawmakers to vote for the party’s policy? Have you?” Ma said.
“Every party has its discipline. You cannot ask me not to impose party discipline on KMT lawmakers if you do not abstain from the use of party discipline as well,” he said.
Su suggested that the KMT, the DPP, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the People First Party jointly facilitate legislative passage of a special statute for a referendum on the nuclear issue to be held under a fair referendum system.
The president said he would consult with KMT lawmakers.
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
RSS