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.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
President William Lai (賴清德) today condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, yesterday. A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratulatory letter to athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) from the Ministry of Education, and then argued with media employees. “Why are you taking our things?” the media employees asked. “Does that say Chinese Taipei?” the two Chinese reportedly said. Following the incident, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) wrote on