Activists condemn DPP's resolve on nuclear issue

Environmentalists gave DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) a verbal lashing yesterday, expressing their disappointment with him and his party's unwillingness to discuss halting the construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant following last month's presidential election.

Dodging the attack, Lin said that environmentalists' current priority should be to continue persuading people who favor nuclear energy to change their opinion rather than targeting the DPP and President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Lin, who has long devoted himself to anti-nuclear campaigning, was criticized by activists yesterday during a meeting of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU, 台灣環保聯盟).

"Since the DPP is to run the government, we hope that problems with the fourth nuclear power plant can be solved by forging efficient political strategies," said a resident from Kungliao (貢寮) township, Taipei County, where the plant's construction site is located.

Many residents living near the site said they admired Lin's efforts to protest nuclear power before he headed the DPP.

However, Lin and the DPP's recent reluctance to cooperate with anti-nuclear activists has left them empty-handed, residents said.

Residents said they felt their votes in support of DPP members had been wasted.

In July 1994, Lin participated in a hunger strike appealing for a plebiscite on the power plant's construction.

During his six-day-long protest in Taipei, he gained support from 120,000 petitioners across the island.

Two months later, Lin founded the Association for Promoting Public Voting on Nuke 4 (核四公投促進會) after gathering the support of activists from religious organizations, environmental groups and social movements.

The association's first action was a peaceful island-wide march. Lin spent 35 days walking 1005km with volunteers to promote the idea of public plebiscites.

To calm Kungliao's residents, Lin said that Minister of Economic Affairs-designate Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) would make a clear decision on the issue within six months of assuming office on May 20.

Lin said he believed that the incoming minister and his subordinates would consider the issue differently from officials in the previous KMT-dominated government.

"I'll punish DPP members if any disobey party platforms (黨綱)," Lin said, referring to the party's stance against nuclear energy.

According to DPP guidelines (行動綱領), written in 1995, the party is against the establishment of new nuclear power plants and seeks to shut down all existing nuclear plants in Taiwan within 10 years. Chang Kuo-lung (張國龍), former TEPU head, said that environmentalists had been very upset with the DPP's unclear position on the fourth nuclear power plant.

TEPU was formed without formally registering in 1988, after 40 years of martial law ended a year earlier.

Since the informal establishment, TEPU's members have marched against nuclear power year after year in a bid to urge the government to create a nuclear-free country.

TEPU, now an officially registered environmental group, plans to hold a nuclear demonstration on May 13, the eve of Mother's Day, to put more pressure on the incoming administration.