Environmental activists filed a petition yesterday asking the Control Yuan to probe a long-disputed resort development in Taitung on what was once one of Taiwan’s most beautiful beaches.
The activists also called for the impeachment of officials they accused of failing to fulfill their duties.
The activists, including representatives of Citizens of the Earth and the Green Party, were making their sixth visit in four years to the Control Yuan, demanding an investigation into the construction of the Miramar Resort Village on Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣).
Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) of Citizens of the Earth said previous petitions went unanswered because the Control Yuan would not take any action until a final Supreme Administrative Court ruling on the case.
In September, the court ordered the developer to halt construction, eight months after it invalidated an environmental impact assessment for the project.
Now the court has ruled the construction illegal, the Control Yuan should begin an investigation as soon as possible, Tsai said. Control Yuan member Chou Yang-shan (周陽山) has accepted the latest petition and promised to start proceedings based on the law, Tsai added.
Environmental protection groups have since demanded the demolition of the buildings already constructed, insisting that a development project of environmental concern should not be allowed to proceed without passing environmental impact assessments by independent professionals.
This demand has been rejected by the Taitung County Government, which said the ruling does not mean that the buildings already constructed should be demolished.
The county government insists the project has followed legal procedure since construction began in 2005 and that it is waiting for a new environmental impact evaluation.
The resort project is a build-operate-transfer project by the county and Urban Development Co.
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
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