To reiterate Taipei City's objection to a decision to open public access to a section of the Taipei-Ilan highway, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Concern about potential damage to water quality in Feitsui Reservoir -- a source of water for both Taipei City and County -- if the section of the highway between Pinglin (
Pan-green city councilors also voiced support for the city government's position during Ma's special report on the issue on Tuesday.
Ma yesterday reiterated the city government's resolve to defend the rights and interests of the 8 million people in Taipei City and County, saying the group will visit the ministry and the EPA, regardless of whether the heads of the two agencies will receive them or not.
"We feel that the central government has not taken the issue seriously ? the purpose of the visit is to highlight the seriousness of the issue, and we hope that they will change their minds," Ma told reporters yesterday after attending a forum at the city government.
Ma made the decision to invite city councilors and environmental groups to take part in the visit yesterday during a morning meeting with staff.
Ma said that if the ministry and the EPA fail to offer a positive response to the city government, it may visit Premier Frank Hsieh (
While determined to voice strong opposition to the government's decision on the highway, Ma said the visit will be "a courtesy call within the administrative system," and not a "protest."
During Ma's special report on the issue on Tuesday, city councilors blamed the central government for ignoring advice from environmentalists.
"The [ministry] followed unlawful procedures in giving the public access to the section and ignored Taipei citizens' rights and interests concerning drinking water. We call on the central government to respect citizens' voices and withdraw their decision," Democratic Progressive Party Councilor Lee Chian-chang (
The decision to allow public access to the section has drawn criticism from many environmentalists and the city government.
Both argue that Taipei-Ilan highway will cause pollution and potentially lower the water quality in Feitsui Reservoir, mirroring recent problems experienced by Shihmen Reservoir.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift