Several representatives of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) yesterday met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at her official residence in Taipei to present recommendations on how to handle environmental problems facing the nation gleaned from the groups’ annual meeting on Saturday.
The groups visited Tsai at about 3pm yesterday and presented their suggestions for dealing with this year’s top 10 environmental issues, which were voted on during Saturday’s meeting.
The most urgent issue was considered to be the protection of algal reefs and first-level protected coral, Polycyanthus chiashanensis, that might be damaged by the construction of the third liquefied natural gas terminal proposed by state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan at Taoyuan’s Guantang Industrial Park (觀塘工業區).
After the meeting, Taoyuan Local Union director-general Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政) said that officials responsible for energy policy have not provided Tsai with the correct information, therefore the proposal by environmental groups to build the terminal at another venue has not been seriously considered.
He proposed to Tsai that the government hold a hearing on the gas terminal project, Pan said, while quoting Tsai as saying that she would gather information for further discussion about a hearing.
He said he had invited the president to join the groups on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei on Saturday next week for a concert to call more attention to the protection of these species, and quoted Tsai as saying that she would check her schedule to see if she could attend it.
Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), who represented the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union in the meeting, advised Tsai that the new Shenao Power Plant to be opened in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳) should use geothermal power instead of the coal-fired power proposed by state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower).
Taiwan Renewable Energy Alliance director Kao Ju-ping (高茹萍) urged Tsai’s administration to push Taipower to reveal more information about the nation’s energy use.
According to the groups, Tsai said she would ask the Ministry of Economic Affairs to study the potential of geothermal power and agreed that Taipower should be more open to public supervision.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods