Following a recent court ruling that favored farmers over a plan to expand a science park, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said the government might reconsider the project to respect the wishes of local people who want to continue farming.
The government might consider excluding Siangsihliao (相思寮) from the area designated for the fourth-stage expansion project of the Central Taiwan Science Park, but this would require further study before a decision is made, Wu told reporters.
The Taipei High Administrative Court on Friday ruled against the science park's expansion project, ordering all expansion activities to be halted until two ongoing lawsuits are settled.
Environmentalists and some farmers living in Siangsihliao, Erlin Township (二林), Changhua County, filed three lawsuits over the project, asking for a revocation of the science park's construction permit for the expansion and for the results of an environmental impact assessment, as well as a suspension of all expansion activities until rulings on the first two items are given.
The science park received a green light following an environmental impact assessment for the plan in November, but activists who oppose the project argue that the review procedure was defective.
Wu said he had not read the entire ruling, but was briefed by the National Science Council, which supervises the CTSP, and the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
The government will look into the ruling and see if it is necessary to conduct another impact assessment for the expansion project at Siangsiliao, Wu said.
"A possible solution could be the exclusion of Siangsiliao from the expansion project, which would allow us to respect the wishes of locals to continue farming. This is my personal opinion; it needs further study by the science park," Wu said.
In related news, the Taipei High Administrative Court accused the EPA of ignoring a ruling it made in January 2008 that nullified the environmental impact assessment made for the science park's third-stage expansion project in Taichung County's Houli Township (后里).
The ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court.
On the Houli project, Wu said he supported the EPA's decision to allow the construction to proceed, saying that in its ruling the Supreme Administrative Court did not demand the suspension of the project, but rather required that the EPA conduct a health risk assessment.
Wu said he had doubts about the applicability of the ruling given by the Taipei High Administrative Court, which ordered the suspension of the Houli project, adding that the Supreme Administrative Court outranked the Taipei High Administrative Court.
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
RSS