Hundreds of residents of Wanbao Borough (灣寶) staged a protest in front of the Houlong Township (後龍) office yesterday, accusing the Miaoli County Government of leaving them out of discussions on plans to turn their farmland into a science park.
The proposal failed to pass the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) environmental impact assessment (EIA) last month, but the county government has not given up the plan to build the science park, Wanbao Borough chief Hsieh Hsiu-yi (謝修鎰) said.
The county government plans to hold an “internal meeting” with the EPA on the matter on Friday, he said.
Prior to meeting with the EPA, the county government held a forum yesterday to explain the proposal to local landowners, Hsieh said.
“Landowners in the county's Zaociao Township (造橋) all received notice about the meeting, but we in Wanbao, who together own more than 150 hectares — more than 80 percent of all privately owned land in the proposed science park — did not,” Hsieh said.
Hsieh said Wanbao residents suspected they had been deliberately left out of the process.
He said that residents and environmentalists were against the development because it would spoil a large stretch of quality farmland and endanger rare species.
Since the 1970s, agricultural land in the area has been rated “superior” by the Council of Agriculture, he said.
If factories were constructed in the area, the water and soil nearby would be contaminated, putting the health of humans and livestock at risk, he said.
Hou Shu-fang (侯淑芳), section chief of public relations, rebutted claims that the county government did not notify residents.
“In the meeting today, Wanbao residents showed up,” the official said.
The notifications were sent out by the developer, Hou said, adding that the county government had run ads about the meeting on local TV over the past few days.
“If some of the residents say they were not notified, we will go and talk to the developer about this matter,” she said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard