Vietnam yesterday said a US$10.6 billion steel plant run by a unit of Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC, 台塑) caused an until-now mysterious environmental crisis by releasing toxic wastewater into the sea.
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業), which has built a new plant set to become the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia, on Tuesday admitted responsibility for a disaster that caused massive fish deaths in coastal provinces in April, head of the government office Mai Tien Dung said.
The spill sparked public outrage across Vietnam and three successive weekends of protests, with demonstrators venting their fury at both Formosa and the government, accusing them of a cover-up.
Photo: AFP
Formosa had apologized and would provide US$500 million in compensation for those affected by the disaster, Dung said.
“Violations in the construction and testing operations of the plant are the causes for serious environmental pollution, killing a massive amount of fish,” Dung told a packed news conference. “Formosa has admitted responsibility for the fish deaths in four central provinces and committed to publicly apologize for causing severe environmental incidents.”
Formosa yesterday said the company respects the Vietnamese government’s probe and blamed the misconduct on oversight by its construction contractors in Vietnam.
The company expressed regret over the incident in a statement, saying it would work with the Vietnamese authorities to compensate the damage done to Vietnamese and solve the pollution issue.
The Ministry of Economis Affairs’ Department of Investment Services said it respects the agreement reached between Formosa Ha Tinh Steel and the Vietnamese government.
“We have contacted the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs right after the release of the government’s investigative report this afternoon,” department Director-General Vivien Lien (連玉蘋) said by telephone, expressing the hope that the event would not affect the relations between Taiwan and Vietnam.
Lien said the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security has promised the Taiwanese representatives in Vietnam that it will ensure the safety of Taiwanese in the nation following the incident.
Formosa’s steel plant is among the largest investments by a foreign company in Vietnam.
In April, the media reported that chemicals from a drainage pipe had killed fish, but a preliminary investigation by Formosa and a separate investigation by the Vietnamese government found there was no direct link between the steel plant and the deaths.
The initial government probe concluded the cause was either toxic discharge caused by humans or “red tide,” when algae bloom and produce toxins.
The incident sparked a crisis for the administration of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who took office days after dead fish started washing up along a 200km coastline on April 6.
Additional reporting by Ted Chen and Lauly Li
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a