Following an anti-nuclear power parade by thousands of protesters on Sunday and a 24-hour hunger strike by four activists in front of the legislature in Taipei overnight, demonstrations continued last night against the proposal by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to hold a national referendum to decide the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮).
About 100 protesters, mainly middle-aged and elderly people, walked to the Legislative Yuan after Sunday’s event ended on Ketagalan Boulevard at about 8pm.
The four activists who held the hunger strike were former Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) chairperson — and the parade’s commander-in-chief — Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign member Peter Wang (王獻極), National Taiwan University associate professor Chen Yung-chang (陳永昌) and former Environmental Protection Agency minister Chang Kuo-long (張國龍).
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
TEPU deputy secretary-general Lee Hsiu-jung (李秀容) said they were protesting because legislators had approved the government-backed proposal to determine the fate of the plant by holding a national referendum, which is scheduled to be referred for a second reading as soon as Monday.
TEPU founding chairperson and veteran anti-nuclear activist Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said the group had held a hunger strike at the same location in 1992, when they protested plans to unfreeze the budget for the construction of the plant.
“Until this day, the victims who living near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site still can not return to their homes. If a nuclear disaster happened in Taiwan, we would have to leave our homes forever, and the health of our generation and our children may also be affected,” said Hsinchu Environmental Protection Association chairperson Chung Shu-chi (鍾淑姬), who also participated in the 1992 protest.
“We have no [US] green card. Where can we escape to?” she said.
“Taiwan is so small that people would have no where to go if a nuclear disaster did occur, and evacuation would also be a problem. Just look at the heavy traffic congestion on national holidays,” she said.
The group said it plans to continue its protest for an indeterminate period, but at least until Sunday.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS