Farmers who had their land expropriated by the government for development projects yesterday protested a draft act to facilitate industrial development, expressing concern that the bill could turn the government into a tool of large corporations.
“The government compensated us with a little over NT$9,000 per ping [3.3m²], when our farmland was expropriated, but the published real estate price is more than NT$40,000 per ping,” Wang Wan-ying (王婉盈), a farmer from Taichung County whose land was taken over by the government to be made part of Central Taiwan Science Park, said at a press conference at the legislature.
Wang said she was also concerned about her family's future.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) may want to lower the unemployment rate by creating more industrial parks, but taking land from farmers is killing us — what are we going to do without land?” she asked.
“It’s ironic that my family was one of the farming families trained by the government in advanced agricultural techniques, because now it’s the government that’s destroying our livelihood,” Wang said, while displaying several awards to her family for excellence in agricultural production.
Wang’s family is not an isolated case.
Farmers from Miaoli, Changhua, Hsinchu and Hualien counties whose land was also expropriated for either industrial parks or resorts joined Wang in her protest.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said that the newly developed industrial parks were the result of the Act for Upgrading Industries (促進產業升級條例), which expired at the end of last year.
However, the government has drafted an act on innovative industries — which also includes clauses authorizing governments to help expropriate land for certain business investments — as an extension of the expired law.
“Thousands of hectares are still unused in previously completed industrial parks, so the government has no reason to take more land from farmers until all the previously expropriated land has been put to good use,” Lin said. “I suspect that the government is doing so not for the public interest. Rather, they are doing so in the interest of large corporations and real estate developers.”
The Alliance for Fair Tax Reform, which supports the farmers, agreed and cited the project to move the Taipei Detention Center in Tucheng City, Taipei County, as an example.
According to the plan, Taipei County Government will expropriate 126 hectares of land to build the new Taipei Detention Center; however, the detention center would only take up around 10 to 20 hectares. The rest would be turned into residential and commercial districts.
“Such a case is not an isolated one, rather, it is just one example of how the government and corporations work together to exploit the disadvantaged,” the alliance said.
Taiwan must first strengthen its own national defense to deter a potential invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to rise, multiple European lawmakers said on Friday. In a media interview in Taipei marking the conclusion of an eight-member European parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Taiwan, the lawmakers urged Taipei to remain vigilant and increase defense spending. “All those who claim they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could draw from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described the Kremlin as a “new fascist Nazi regime” that justified
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which stipulates that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican US Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude China from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China
‘T-DOME’: IBCS would increase Taiwan’s defense capabilities, enabling air defense units to use data from any sensor system and cut reaction time, a defense official said A defense official yesterday said that a purported new arms sale the US is assembling for Taiwan likely includes Integrated Battle Command Systems (IBCS). The anonymous official’s comments came hours after the Financial Times (FT) reported that Washington is preparing a US$20 billion arms sale encompassing “Patriot missiles and other weapons,” citing eight sources. The Taiwanese official said the IBCS is an advanced command and control system that would play a key role in President William Lai’s (賴清德) flagship defense program, the “T-Dome,” an integrated air defense network to counter ballistic missiles and other threats. The IBCS would increase Taiwan’s
NOMINAL NEWLYWEDS: A man’s family and his wife — his long-term caregiver — are engaged in a legal dogfight over the propriety and validity of the recent union A centenarian’s marriage to his caregiver unbeknownst to his children has prompted legal action, as the caregiver accuses the man’s children of violating her personal liberty and damaging her reputation, while the children have sought a legal option to have the marriage annulled. According to sources, the 102-year-old man surnamed Wang (王) lives in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) and previously worked as a land registration agent. Wang reportedly owns multiple properties and parcels of land worth several hundred million New Taiwan dollars and has ten children. His caregiver, a 69-year-old surnamed Lai (賴), has been caring for him since about 1999,
RSS