The Green Party Taiwan (GPT) yesterday accused the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Industrial Development Bureau of “buying off” bloggers to publish blog entries on the petrochemical industry and questioned if it was part of a campaign to raise public support for a highly controversial plan to build a massive petrochemical plant.
“This government is completely malfunctioning. It not only buys commercial media outlets, now it’s buying independent bloggers,” GPT convener Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said.
Pan told the Taipei Times by telephone that the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) had invited 20 bloggers on a trip to visit a petrochemical plant in Kaohsiung and an electronic appliance plant nearby.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“The trip was totally free for participants. They received free meals and a NT$5,000 cash award,” Pan said.
“The NT$5,000 for each participating blogger alone costs NT$100,000 of taxpayers’ money and this doesn’t include the cost of hiring a marketing firm to arrange the trip and other costs of the trip,” Pan said.
“Both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) have talked about ending government placement marketing, but what they are doing is far from what they said,” Pan added.
A Web page announcing the event with details and links to related blog posts confirmed Pan’s comments.
The event Web page said participating bloggers were required to publish at least one blog post of 1,500 words or more and five pictures describing the trip -before Friday to qualify.
In their blog post, bloggers were asked to “write down your expectations of the Kuokuang petrochemical plant” as well as “comments and feelings” about the trip.
Kuokuang Petrochemical Co wants to construct a massive petrochemical plant along the coast in Changhua County.
The plan has met with strong opposition from environmental groups as well as local residents who worry about the pollution and the impact such a project could have on the ecologically sensitive Changhua coast.
GPT Secretary-General Chang Hung-lin (張宏林) said studies by academics and previous experience had proven that the highly polluting petrochemical industry is not suitable for Taiwan.
“Despite this knowledge, the government still insists on -defending the Kuokuang project without any regard for the health of the public,” Chang said.
“Now the government is even trying to get its hands on bloggers to speak for the petrochemical industry,” Chang added.
“The government should apologize to the public,” Chang said.
At press time, IDB Director--General Woody Duh (杜紫軍) had not returned requests for comment by the Taipei Times.
Separately, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said he did not see any problems with the practice of encouraging bloggers to write on a subject through subsidies, as long as the blogs were not used as embedded marketing.
“This is not unlike the tours [of military facilities] organized by the Ministry of National Defense for reporters covering national defense,” Wu said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
GENSLER SURVEY: ‘Economic infrastructure is not enough. A city needs to inspire pride, offer moments of joy and foster a sense of belonging,’ the company said Taipei was named the city with the “highest staying power” in the world by US-based design and architecture firm Gensler. The Taiwanese capital earned the top spot among 65 cities across six continents with 64 percent of Taipei respondents in a survey of 33,000 people saying they wanted to stay in the city. Rounding out the top five were Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (61 percent), Singapore (59 percent), Sydney (58 percent) and Berlin (51 percent). Sixth to 10th place went to Monterrey, Mexico; Munich, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Vancouver; and Seoul. Cities in the US were ranked separately, with Minneapolis first at
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association has cautioned Japanese travelers to be vigilant against pickpockets at several popular tourist spots in Taiwan, including Taipei’s night markets, the Yongkang Street area, Zhongshan MRT Station, and Jiufen (九份) in New Taipei City. The advisory, titled “Recent Development of Concerns,” was posted on the association’s Web site under its safety and emergency report section. It urges travelers to keep backpacks fully zipped and carried in front, with valuables placed at the bottom of the bag. Visitors are advised to be especially mindful of their belongings when taking photos or speaking on the phone, avoid storing wallets and
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
RSS