Representatives from Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), Taitung County, Pingtung County and northwestern Taiwan joined environmental groups yesterday in a protest in front of the Executive Yuan to demand that officials fulfil their promise to meet with those affected by the nuclear waste stored in these areas.
The groups said that one day before the March 9 anti-nuclear demonstrations were held across the nation, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) had told lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan that he would immediately arrange meetings with anti-nuclear groups which wanted to discuss nuclear issues with him or President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Since no meetings have been arranged since then, the groups said they were protesting to make their desire to meet with the president and premier known.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Tao Foundation (蘭嶼部落文化基金會) secretary-general Sinan Mavivo said that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) should not make excuses such as being unable to pick a final disposal site for low-level radioactive waste to delay making good its promise to remove nuclear waste from Orchid Island.
The groups said there are too many spent nuclear fuel rods stored in northern parts of the country.
Northern Coast Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance chief executive Kuo Ching-lin (郭慶霖) said it has already asked relevant government agencies to unveil the final disposal plan and the schedule for its implementation, and if the government do not respond to their demands, the alliance will consider filing a lawsuit.
Taitung Anti-Nuclear Alliance convener Yang Tsung-wei (楊宗瑋) said that because Taitung’s electricity usage accounts for only a small proportion of the nation’s total usage, it is unfair that the area is being considered as the final disposal site for nuclear waste and that Tajen Township (達仁) is being considered as the final repository site.
“Fight against nuclear waste, enforce a full-scale review on nuclear waste policies,” the representatives called out together, as they presented their proposal to meet with the premier to discuss nuclear waste issues to an official.
The groups urged the Executive Yuan to give them an answer on a time for a meeting within three days. The official who accepted their proposal replied that she would present their letter to more senior-ranking officials.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS