The political fallout from a fire that spewed heavy pollution across Yunlin County two weeks ago is unlikely to affect election prospects more than 150km away in Taipei County, the candidates in the two major parties said yesterday.
The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Eric Chu (朱立倫) and the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) denied that the government’s handling of the pollution would sway the more than half a million Taipei County voters from the largely agricultural county.
The questions were raised after Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) knelt in front of the Executive Yuan on Thursday, appealing to Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) to crack down on pollution caused by the region's massive petrochemical complex.
The 1,680-hectare plant, located in Mailiao Township (麥寮), is owned by the Formosa Plastics Group and its operations over the past few years have led to a number of health concerns among residents.
These concerns were compounded by a fire that broke out at a pollution treatment facility in the complex on July 25. The smoke is said to have exposed Yunlin residents to seven times the average level of airborne pollutants and seriously damaged the county's agricultural and fishing industries.
Speaking at a campaign stop in a Taipei County temple yesterday, Tsai said she did not see how the incident would boost the opposition party’s election prospects.
“Su's kneeling was based on concerns for the well-being and safety of [Yunlin County] residents. We should see the fire as an environmental incident instead of it having a direct connection to the [November] elections,” she said.
Tsai, who doubles as DPP chairperson, recently spoke out in support of the county commissioner, saying the DPP would likely put a halt on future petrochemical expansions if it regains power in 2012.
Chu said he did not see how the industrial incident could be politicized, given that “in today's society, I don't think industrial safety should be given a political slant.”
He told reporters that he has maintained good relations with Taipei County residents originally from Yunlin and would be counting on their support on Nov. 27.
A representative from a Yunlin community association in the electoral district declined to comment, calling it a “sensitive issue.”
Tsai and Chu are locked neck-and-neck in the elections for the nation’s most populous municipality. Taipei County will be upgraded to a special municipality and renamed Sinbei City on Dec. 25.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS