A large and controversial development project near scenic destination Cisingtan (七星潭) in Hualien came under protest as local residents and environmental organizations held a demonstration in front of the Environmental Protection Administration yesterday.
The protesters said that the 4.5 hectare development would destroy the area’s fragile ecosystem, remove their access to the beach and lacked community involvement.
They accused Hualien County Government officials of colluding with developers after they approved the proposal without conducting an environmental impact assessment. They added that officials should first finalize an overall development plan for the community.
The proposal, located on Haian Road next to Hualien Airport on the outskirts of Hualien City, includes the construction of a large vacation resort with a mix of commercial space.
Hualien County Government officials said the project would become part of a larger plan to develop the area, with land set aside for manufacturing and agricultural centers. They said the plan would help jump-start the county’s lagging economy, create jobs and increase tourism dollars.
Under county regulations, the proposal does not require an environmental impact assessment because the development area is less than 10 hectares.
In a public hearing after the protest, You Huang-ming (游煌明), who heads the Cisingtan Community Development Association, called both the proposal and the process “flawed.”
“We are not against development in general, but in this case, they haven’t shown any consideration for us local residents or our environment,” You said. “All that has [mattered] to the county government and the wealthy developers has been how to make [money].”
Local resident Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) said the proposal would harm the local culture and create large amounts of pollution — something the area’s small community could not accept.
“We want a clean and natural shoreline … that all residents can enjoy,” Tsai said. “This just isn’t a suitable location.”
Opposition to the project has grown in recent months after organizers said an online petition gathered more than 40,000 signatures.
The petition calls for county officials to reject the resort project and revise the entire Cisingtan area development proposal.
In response to the concerns, developer representative Huang Chin-fa (黃進發) apologized to the protesters for what he called “inadequate communication.”
“It is not our plan to destroy this beautiful environment,” Huang said.
He promised residents that the construction would not extend into the beach area, while the environmental exposure would be minimized. He said the company would attempt to source workers and supplies from neighboring communities.
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,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods