Former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) said yesterday that the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) project should be decided by the people of Taiwan, and anyone who is opposed to a referendum on the issue is unsuitable for public office, local media reported.
Lin commented on the possibility of a year-end referendum while attending the establishment ceremony for the Nuclear-Free Country Association (非核國家促進會) yesterday morning in Taipei.
Anyone who is opposed to the referendum is not qualified to take public office, and they are certainly not qualified to be the president, premier or a legislator in a democratic nation, according to Lin.
"To oppose the referendum is completely unreasonable and irrational, and goes against the tide of democracy," Lin added.
Lin also showed his dissatisfaction with the DPP's unclear position on the project, saying that he could not understand why the ruling party failed to uphold its long-held position against nuclear energy after coming to power last year.
According to the DPP platform, the party is against building new nuclear power plants and seeks to close the three existing nuclear plants in Taiwan within 10 years.
On Feb. 14, however, the DPP government announced that it would resume construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant after the Council of Grand Justices ruled in a constitutional interpretation-judgment that the administration's earlier decision to scrap the project was procedurally flawed.
In response to Lin's criticism, DPP legislative caucus convener Tsai Huang-liang (
According to Tsai, since the DPP is the minority in the Legislative Yuan, its priority is to stabilize the current political scene, not to seek a referendum on the power plant issue.
However, according to Shih Shin-min (
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