Several civic groups from across the nation yesterday condemned the Taitung County Government’s stance in supporting what they said was the illegal construction of a Miramar Resort in Taitung, as well as the removal of people with dissenting opinions from the local environmental impact assessment (EIA) meeting early last month through police force.
The groups held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan to voice their support for Savungaz Bunun (李品涵), a student of National Cheng Kung University, and Lin Guo-syun (林國勳), a video photographer, who both questioned the legality of the project at the EIA meeting on the case of Miramar Resort on June 2, and are now under police investigation.
Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) from Green Party Taiwan said the ongoing development of the beachfront Miramar Resort in Taitung County’s Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) is a ridiculous case of the local government having violated the law, but refusing people the right to express opposing opinions.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳), director of the Hualien and Taitung offices of Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan, said the Supreme Administrative Court had ruled the resort’s construction permit was invalid in September 2010, but the Taitung government still issued new construction and operating permits to the resort in the same year.
Moreover, the Supreme Administrative Court reached a final verdict in January this year, ruling that the EIA of the resort was invalid and that all construction work must be stopped immediately, Tsai said.
“The fact is that in spite of its illegal status, construction is still going on in preparation for its opening, and the local government is still trying to find ways to help,” she said.
Lee said that during the EIA meeting last month she was seized by several police officers and forced to leave when she asked a question about the procedural legitimacy of building the resort without it passing an EIA, and now possibly faces charges of obstructing an officer.
“It was unbelievable that one of the police even suggested I be handcuffed and taken to the police station,” Lee said.
Lee also said that the developer of the resort had not respected the Aborigines living nearby during the construction, but now it is using their traditional cultural events as a selling point in its advertisements.
Lin was asked to report to the local government for pointing his middle finger a photograph of the county government that day and may face possible charges of contempt of authority, Pan said, adding that pointing the “middle finger (中指)” represented “halting (終止)” the construction since the two words have the same pronunciation in Mandarin Chinese.
There are too many cases of police officers overreacting to protestors’ behavior, in an effort to make people afraid to stand up against injustice, Indigenous Peoples Action Coalition of Taiwan member Oto Micyang (伍杜米將) said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said the court has already ruled the resort to be illegal, so the central government should deal with situation, instead of allowing the local government to ignore the ruling.
The groups urged the government to deal with the illegal construction first and then restart the EIA meeting at a central government level — the Environmental Protection Administration — to avoid a conflict of interest, Tsai said, adding that the fundamental rights of the local Aborigines should also be respected.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all