More than 200 environmental protection activists urged the Changhua County Government yesterday not to obstruct the designation of a belt of intertidal zone along the county’s west coast as a wetland of international importance.
The environmentalists from several civic groups made the call in a protest in front of Changhua County Hall against a NT$400 billion (US$13.76 billion) investment project to build a major petrochemical complex on land close to the estuary of the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪).
They demanded that Changhua County Commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) acquiesce to the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency in categorizing the intertidal zone as a wetland of international importance so it will not be destroyed, said Tsai Chia-yang (蔡嘉陽), chairman of the Changhua Environmental Protection Union.
The county’s coastal areas house important fishing and agricultural industries as well as biological resources. The county should seek the sustainable development of the area instead of allowing the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co to destroy the wetland to make way for a new plant, Tsai said.
During the protest, a scuffle broke out between activists and police when their demand to meet Cho was rejected.
The protesters did not leave until Cho’s deputy, Yang Chung (楊仲), appeared and accepted a petition from the environmentalists.
Meanwhile, also in Changhua County, more than 100 students at National Changhua High School staged a campus sit-in in protest over the Kuokuang project.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS