Activists and lawmakers yesterday called on the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to halt a review of a controversial resort project at Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) in Taitung County, saying the developer is trying to bulldoze the project without the consent of local Aboriginal communities before the development site is officially recognized as a reserve area.
The Shanyuan Palm Beach Resort (杉原棕櫚濱海渡假村) is the largest development project on the east coast, with a 26-hectare development area — 4.3 times the size of the controversial Miramar Resort Hotel project in Shanyuan Bay, whose environmental approval the court revoked last month.
The EPA suspended the review of the Palm Beach project in July last year, saying the project’s competent authorities — the Tourism Bureau and the Construction and Planning Agency — should clarify the project’s potential conflicts with the Coastal Zone Management Act (海岸管理法), which stipulates the establishment of nationwide coastal reserves by next year.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The EPA’s environmental impact assessment of the Palm Beach project, which is scheduled for today, is once again set to be held amid controversy, with activists calling for the agency to halt the review until coastal reserves and traditional Aboriginal territories are officially zoned.
Lin Shu-ling (林淑玲), a member of an Amis community living in the bay area, said the developer has repeatedly claimed that the development site is not located within traditional Aboriginal territories to circumvent the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民基本法), which requires developers of a project involving Aboriginal territories to acquire the consent of Aboriginal residents before submitting the project application.
Lin read a statement from the Amis community which said the development would have a dramatic impact on the community and the environment, and the project could not proceed without their consent.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Aboriginal communities should also be entitled to lead the planning of coastal reserves, the statement said.
New Power Party Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal rejected the developer’s claim that the bay area is not an Aboriginal territory, saying the Amis have named different locations of the area that do not even have names in Chinese, suggesting Aboriginal people have lived there for hundreds of years.
“The state cannot invade lands belonging to Aborigines in the name of development, and Aborigines’ rights to know must always be protected. The Council of Indigenous Peoples should weigh in on the case and help Aborigines instruct the government in designating traditional territories,” she said.
“The bay is also known as an important turtle nesting beach and coral reef habitat, and development can harm the local ecosystem, especially when the developer illegally started construction before submitting a project plan. How can we trust such a developer to protect the environment?” Citizen of the Earth consultant Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) said.
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
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
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