Environmental activists and residents in Neihu District (內湖) yesterday protested against a plan by a well-known religious organization to establish a building in a nature preserve there and called on the Taipei City Government not to approve the project.
Chanting slogans “Don’t damage the environment, Tzu Chi Foundation!” in front of Taipei City Hall, several dozens of activists, led by Green Party Taiwan member and writer Chang Hsiao-feng (張曉風), accused the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation of planning to build a volunteer-training complex in a preservation zone located north of Dahu Park.
The zone, they said, is geologically fragile and not suitable for development.
However, the foundation avoided the necessity of having an environmental impact assessment carried out on the project by limiting the development area to within 5 hectares.
“Our request is simple: We want the group to cancel its plan and we want the city government to turn down the proposal. It doesn’t matter what the group does with the building; establishing buildings there would damage the environment,” Green Party Taiwan member Lee Ying-shuan (李盈萱) said.
Protesters insisted on sitting in on the city’s urban planning committee, which convened yesterday to review the proposal. They threatened to hold another protest if the city approved the plan.
Lin Min-chao (林敏朝), a division chief at the foundation, defended the proposal, saying construction would not damage the environment.
“Neihu has become a highly developed area and what we want to do is to push for a plan that strikes a balance between social welfare and environmental protection,” he said.
Tzu Chi purchased the plot of land in 1997 and applied with the city to construct a building in 2005. For the building to be erected legally, the city government would have to change the land designation from preservation zone to “social welfare special zone.”
Lin said the building would be used to train volunteers, while other parts of the land would serve as storage space for recycled materials and relief resources.
The committee failed to reach a consensus on whether to approve the project and said it would hold another meeting to discuss the case.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS