Premier Chang Chun-hsiung's (張俊雄) decision to halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is the first step toward a nuclear-free country, nuclear opponents said yesterday.
The government must also do more to reform the nation's energy policies and adopt renewable energy sources, the activists said.
"The DPP-led government has kept pace with international trends" when it comes to energy policy, Pan Han-chiang (
Chang's announcement was also applauded by anti-nuclear residents in Kungliao township (
As parents of young children, residents said at a press conference yesterday that they have a responsibility to fight for a better environment for future generations.
"The decision will prevent the environment along the northeastern coast from being destroyed by the plant's construction," said Chen Ching-tang (
Anti-nuclear activists said that concerns surrounding nuclear energy have been fully debated by the public, and that discourse could be used to answer other public policy questions.
"The way of arriving at a final decision to abandon the project for the plant could also be applied to other important public development projects in the future," said Wu Wen-tung (吳文通), a Kungliao resident.
Meanwhile, Kungliao builders who do contract work for Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said the premier's decision was a sudden one.
Wang Wen-bin (
"I believe that some Kungliao residents will start to worry about their future, because the decision" will hurt Kungliao economically, Wang said.
As a result of the decision, he said, many residents will be forced to look for jobs elsewhere.
Lin Chu-wan (林居萬), Taipower's site manager for the Lungmen Construction Office (龍門施工處) in Kungliao, said that some major construction projects have already been halted as a result of the government's announcement yesterday.
But Lin said that Taipower employees working at the site were still waiting for further instruction from their supervisors.
Hsia Der-yu (夏德鈺), chairman of the Atomic Energy Council, said yesterday he respected the premier's decision and that the council would now focus on operating the nation's three nuclear plants.
"I don't feel that Premier Chang disrespects the nuclear energy profession, and I believe that the decision was based on a comprehensive consideration," Hsia said.
Meanwhile, the first wave of the DPP's anti-nuclear campaign appeared yesterday in the form of advertisements in the evening newspapers.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
RSS