Several academics and members of the Antinuclear Action Alliance said yesterday that their proposal of initiating a national referendum to decide whether fuel rods should be inserted into the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant’s reactor has already reached the threshold of 100,000 signatures that are needed for a first-phase submission.
Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), former Taiwan Environmental Protection Union chairperson, said the government and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) decision on “ceasing construction” of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) is only playing with words, stalling for time and deceiving the public.
He said that because the Cabinet and KMT lawmakers are unwilling to amend the Referendum Act (公民投票法), which contains what he called “unreasonably high” thresholds, the alliance has instead initiated a national referendum proposal, with the question: “Do you agree on allowing Taiwan Power Co to insert fuel rods into the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City for a test run?”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“This is a question that is destined to stop nuclear power,” he said, adding that if a national plebiscite is held on this question, any eligible voter who does not vote would be considered against it.
“We have already received enough signatures for the first-phase threshold and we will submit it [to the Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee] soon,” he said. “We cannot think of any reason for them to reject our proposal.”
Kao said that the union had previously submitted a petition to initiate a local referendum posing the same question, but it was rejected by the committee, claiming that the nuclear power plant is a nationwide public issue and should be decided on a national level.
Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy secretary-general Chien Wen-nan (錢文南) choked on tears as he said that former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) action of bowing to the tomb of his mother and twin daughters at a cemetery in Yilan on Monday is seen by Taiwanese as a sign of saying that he is about to leave this world.
“This is a critical point concerning a person’s life [Lin is now on the eighth day of his hunger strike], but the government still does not show any empathy,” he said. “He does not represent himself, he is representing the will of many Taiwanese... and he already has family members who have been murdered, please don’t let him sacrifice his life for Taiwanese.”
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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