Environmentalists delivered the “Black Planet Award” to Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) yesterday.
The German-based Foundation Ethics and Economics Conference (Ethcon) gave the conglomerate the award for its “continuing sequence of social and ecological foul play throughout the world.”
The environmentalists also accused Taipei bus operators of tampering with their advertisements about the award.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
However, no one from the Formosa Group showed up at the ceremony — which featured a skit portraying President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as a toady of big corporations — to claim the award.
Calling the award “the shame of Taiwan,” Chien Hsi-chieh (簡錫土皆) of the Alliance for Fair Tax Reform, said Formosa had only been able to grow so big so fast because of tax benefits from the government.
“The interest rate for corporate loans used to be about 10 percent,” Chien said. “Formosa was able to secure a loan of NT$140 billion [US$4.4 billion] and it only paid 3 percent in interest. The other 7 percent of interest rate was paid by taxpayers.”
The six-year-old Ethocon annually presents a “Blue Planet Award” to those who try to protect the Earth, and “Black Planet Award” to those who have demonstrated they represent a clear danger to the Earth.
Janis Wang (王佳貞), a representative of the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, said the group bought ad space on 23 buses operating along 10 different routes in Taipei that would take them past FPG’s buildings, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and other sites.
When the association’s representatives went to check the ads on Tuesday, they found the character “shame” (恥) on the poster had been removed, she said. The bus operators then told them they had to submit ads for review and approval first.
“We didn’t know we had to submit the advertisement for review,” Wang said. “When we found the mistake we called [the operators] and asked what we should do. They told us that we could fix the problem by providing requested documents.”
On Tuesday night, however, Wang said that they were told that the ads had to go.
Wang said that the association has collected NT$150,000 in donations to finance the ad campaign.
Green Party Taiwan Secretary- General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said the ad addresses an issue that was open for discussion. He said FPG does not have to pressure bus operators to take out a word in such a secretive manner.
“It restricts people’s speech and shows that the law of the Wangs [FPG’s owners] is more powerful than the Constitution,” Pan said.
Some environmentalists will attend FPG’s shareholders’ meeting next month, Pan said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or