A number of civic environmental groups yesterday said they will jointly hold a rally in Taipei on Saturday in a bid to attract more public attention to the issue of the Miramar Resort Village on Taitung County’s Shanyuan Beach (杉原沙灘).
The rally is to commence with a parade starting in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) before converging on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office, where a music event will be staged until midnight.
The groups said that although lawsuits filed against the Miramar Resort Village project by civic groups were successful in court, the county government still allowed the construction plan to pass an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in December last year.
The resort’s managment also announced it will hold a free beach festival on May 1, indicating that the complex is going into operation, the groups added.
A group of activists set off on a protest journey on foot from Shanyuan Beach on April 4 and plan to reach the Presidential Office in Taipei on Saturday, after walking more than 265km over the course of 17 days.
Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳), a branch office director at Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan, said everyone is welcome to join the activists in walking the final 4.2km of the journey to express their opposition to the hotel’s construction.
The groups’ demands include that the government tear down the Miramar Resort Village, give back clean natural beaches to the Taiwanese public rather than selling them to corporations, and to protect the oceanic ecosystem, such as coral and green sea turtles.
Chen Kei-mei (陳凱眉) from the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association said the issue is of national concern because the original intention of enacting the EIA Act has been violated if the developer can begin construction before gaining approval and neglecting the Supreme Administrative Court’s final verdicts.
The Taiwan Environmental Information Association added that research has shown that the coral coverage rate off Shanyuan Beach has dropped from 38 percent in 2009 to 27 percent last year, and that the construction project can directly impact coral by covering it with soil washed into the ocean.
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,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
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