A group of environmentalists and writers yesterday launched an “environmental priorities coalition” to promote sustainable development, calling on voters to support the Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance and to vote against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which they said has depleted natural resources for development.
Headed by poet Wu Sheng (吳晟), the coalition includes dozens of environmental groups and prominent writers and academics, who urged voters to support the alliance in sending environmentally conscious candidates into the legislature ahead of the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections.
Wu said that the KMT is responsible for the exhaustion of natural resources for economic growth, which has been the mainstay of Taiwan’s development over the years, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has assimilated that development mindset, resulting in increasingly serious pollution problems.
“The KMT must be crushed in this election so that it can reflect on its mistakes. We should also supervise the DPP’s government [if it wins the elections], because it has been influenced by the KMT’s development mindset. We will cast legislator-at-large ballots for the alliance so there is supervision in the legislature,” Wu said.
Taiwan Environmental Protection Union Pingtung office director Hung Hui-hsiang (洪輝祥) said electricity in Taiwan ranks among the cheapest in the world, because the government has subsidized power for industries, thereby encouraging energy and pollution-intensive businesses at the expense of the environment, a policy that will lead to intergenerational injustice, as it leaves pollution to later generations.
Homemaker United Foundation secretary-general Lai Hsiao-feng (賴曉芬) said that the foundation had rarely endorsed a particular party in the past, but Taiwan’s environment has deteriorated at an alarming rate, resulting in a recent series of food scares, so it decided to step forward and support the alliance and its environmentally conscious candidates.
While the foundation’s former president, Chen Man-li (陳曼麗), is a legislator-at-large candidate under the DPP banner, she is one of the few environmentalists to be recruited by either major party, so her candidacy might simply be an attempt to boost the DPP’s image rather than the formation of a new force in the legislature, Lai said.
Changhua County Environmental Protection Union secretary-general Shih Yueh-ying (施月英) said she has witnessed the perseverance of alliance legislative candidates Lee Ken-cheng (李根政) and Thomas Chan (詹順貴) on environmental protection since 2006, when the two were members of an Environmental Protection Administration committee that was reviewing the much-maligned Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co refinery project in Changhua.
Taiwan needs a better political system, National Chengchi University professor Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) said, adding that Lee and Chan, as well as the alliance’s other candidates, could be trusted to bring about political reform, as they would never be bought by corporations.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
RSS