Environmental activists yesterday expressed doubts about a government plan to halve the size of a development project for the National Biotech Park at the 202 Arsenal in the Nangang District (南港) in Taipei City, saying it would still threaten an ecosystem that was carefully preserved for decades.
Writer Chang Hsiao-feng (張曉風) yesterday urged Academia Sinica to drop its plans to construct the biotech park at the 202 Arsenal, adding that the move was a wrongful deed akin to “stealing chickens from your neighbors,” a parable she quoted from the writings of Chinese philosopher Mencius (孟子).
The 70-year-old Chinese-language writer has been campaigning for the full abandonment of the development project to preserve wetlands in the area. Bowing down during a TV interview, Chang called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to spare the wetlands by keeping the status quo.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
“What he [Mencius] said is that stealing a chicken is wrong. It is wrong even if the thief says he only steals one chicken each month,” Chang said, adding that Academia Sinica was like a thief who likes to steal chickens from its neighbor — in this case, 202 Arsenal.
“This development project is plain wrong,” she said.
Academia Sinica only chose the property of the 202 Arsenal to build the Biotech Park as a matter of convenience because the arsenal is right next to the institution, she said.
“As the nation’s top research institution, Academia Sinica owns many plots of land,” she said. “Why does it have to be this place? Can’t they build it in Linkou (林口) in Taipei County instead?”
She said that the Ministry of National Defense did not have to relocate the arsenal, as doing so would cost billions of NT dollars.
Chang toured the area with reporters, government officials and experts recruited by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). Aside from Chang, who was on her third visit, many were first-time visitors to the arsenal, which is a military restricted zone.
The ministry said the area frequently draws wildlife, including Formosan Blue Magpies. Visitors could also see several egrets flying around the meadows and ponds, an indication that the area was a well-preserved ecosystem.
Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) said on Monday the academic institution had made adjustments to the development plan. He said the area to be used by the project had been reduced from 9.6 hectares to 4 hectares, adding that construction would take place at the sites already used by the ministry to build factories and offices.
Under the revised plan, the total floor space for the biotech park would be reduced from the initial 247,500m² to 122,100 m². As a result, the construction costs would drop from NT$27.02 billion (US$859 million) to NT$22.28 billion.
In a briefing at the EPA yesterday, Wong shed light on why the institution had chosen this particular site.
“The research on the biotechnology is conducted separately by the Department of Health, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and National Science Council,” Wong said. “We can integrate the sources by placing all the facilities in one location.”
The location must be convenient for researchers, he said, adding that it would be difficult for them to carry out their work if they were far from the university, their families and their students.
Taiwan Green Party Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said an alarming message would be sent if the project’s environmental impact assessment passed the EPA evaluation.
“This [the project] is like the first domino, and once it falls, the next one in line will fall too,” said Pan, adding that Taipei City was planning to erect a 100 hectare corporate headquarters in the same area.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
RSS