The Executive Yuan on Wednesday designated about 2,500 hectares of farmland no longer suitable for agriculture in central and southern Taiwan as sites for the construction of solar power facilities to develop renewable energy.
The act gave the nation’s solar power industry the green light to build facilities in Yunlin, Chiayi and Changhua counties, where large amounts of farmland have turned fallow due to ground subsidence.
Severe ground subsidence caused by excessive groundwater extraction led to 1,253 hectares of farmland in Yunlin, Chiayi and Changhua to be designated as unsuitable for agriculture.
A corridor spanning 1,266 hectares surrounding the high-speed rail line in Changhua and Yunlin was also on the Executive Yuan’s list, as ground subsidence related to train operations has greatly affected the area.
The designation was made after Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) heard an interministerial report by the National Development Council, the Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Saying that upholding “the principle of agricultural land solely for agricultural use” remains the government’s top priority, the Executive Yuan expressed its worry that quality farmland might be used for solar power should too many regions be designated for energy development, as generating electricity is generally more profitable than growing crops.
As the 2,519 hectares are undoubtedly unsuitable for farming, reutilizing that land for solar energy will not spark opposition, it said.
The government is to survey whether more farmland could be used to generate electricity, especially severely polluted fields.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
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