As Taiwan begins its post-election transition of power, DPP legislators have demanded that the Environmental Protection Administration (環境保護署, EPA) review several of Taiwan's more controversial industrial development projects.
The fourth nuclear power plant, along with the Pinnan Industrial Complex (
The demands are evidence of the KMT's and DPP's remarkably differing stances on environmental issues.
While delivering a report to the legislature yesterday on plans to manage industrial waste, EPA Administrator Tsai Hsung-hsiung (
DPP legislators Lai Chin-lin (賴勁麟) asked Tsai if he would order a halt to several major projects.
"We suggest that the continuing environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Pinnan project should be halted due to its controversial status" Lai said, suggesting the EPA's passage of the first stage of the EIA was questionable.
The controversy over the Pinnan project, which will include a petrochemical and steel-making project, including the Seventh Naphtha Cracker (
Most notable among these are the reduction of total carbon dioxide emission, preservation of biodiversity in Taiwan's wetlands and protecting water resources, according to environmental groups.
"The DPP had expressed strong opposition to the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant, as well as the Meinung Dam project," said DPP legislator Chang Ching-fang (
The legislators said they were targeting the two projects in particular, because they were approved before 1994, when the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) was implemented, adding that the projects should follow the new, tougher regulations, which would make it more difficult for the projects to be approved.
Several KMT legislators agreed with their DPP colleagues.
"I suggest that the fate of the controversial projects we discuss here should be decided by referendum," said Jao Yung-ching (
However, Tsai stressed that the passage of the EIA for the Pinnan project was absolutely legal, public and fair.
"As for the second stage of the EIA, developers are preparing the required information to get approval," Tsai said.
"The ongoing construction of the forth nuclear power plant and the Meinung Dam project could be stopped if budgets for related subsidiary plans are cut," Tsai said.
Jao also said the EPA had taken sides in favor of Taiwan's petrochemical giant, Formosa Plastics, when dealing with the issue of the company's mercury-tainted waste. A contracted waste handler for FPG dumped the waste secretly in Cambodia in 1998. The event drew widespread condemnation among the international community.
"I would like to see legal documents for the recent shipment of 32 cargo containers of the waste," Jao said, referring to reports that some of the material had been illegally exported late last year.
Tsai said that no mercury-tainted waste had been exported to the Netherlands, as has been reported, adding that the only material exported had been plastic bags and clothes used in Cambodia when cleaning up the waste in 1998.
"I would like to see the waste handled in foreign countries, because locally we are bound to encounter protests," Tsai said, adding that FPG had a back-up plan to import heat recovery facilities to treat the waste under the EPA's supervision.
Facing such accusations, Tsai said that he did not intend to continue in his EPA post after the new government is established in May.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS