Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) plans to file a provisional injunction over the government’s rejection of her proposed nuclear referendum in New Taipei City (新北市) in a bid to stop the fuel rods from being installed at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in the city’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled at the Taipei High Administrative Court today over the lawsuit Lu has filed against the Executive Yuan for rejecting her referendum proposal, which had been previously approved by New Taipei City’s Referendum Review Committee.
Lu told a press conference yesterday that the Executive Yuan’s rejection has failed to respect the tens of thousands of people who signed the petition.
The former vice president, who is among the aspirants for the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidacy in the Taipei mayoral election in November, has made the anti-nuclear issue one of the main themes of her election campaign.
Citing former Japanese prime minister Morihimo Hosokawa, who ran an anti-nuclear campaign in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, as her inspiration, Lu said she would continue with her efforts, noting that the wishes of the millions of residents in the evacuation zone around the nuclear power plant should be respected.
Lu also accused Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of flip-flopping on another referendum proposal Lu launched in Taipei, saying that Hau had shunned the responsibility for referring the proposal to the Ministry of the Interior, which subsequently determined that a nuclear referendum is a national issue that cannot be decided by a local referendum.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
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