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.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS