Thousands of protesters yesterday rallied in Taichung and Kaohsiung to protest against air pollution and climate change, joined by ruling party and opposition lawmakers, local politicians and former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲).
The marches were organized by the Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance to back calls for the government to pay more attention to air pollution, especially in central and southern Taiwan.
Lee, who joined the rally in Taichung City Park, called on the government to make Taiwan a model for change in the battle against climate change.
Photo: CNA
The government should update the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣汙染防制法) and “enterprises and society should join the fight” to make Taiwan a more beautiful place, he said.
The climate should not be sacrificed for economic progress, the Nobel Prize laureate said.
The poor air quality in southern Taiwan in recent days was a sign of how human activity has already affected the world in which the next generation will live in, he said.
Photo: CNA
Among the protesters in Taichung were members of the Taiwan Clean Air Network and other environmental groups, Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) and Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲).
Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance convener Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃), who led the Taichung rally, said the nation is divided by two skies — one with clean air and one where there is air pollution caused by poor environmental practices.
Yeh said he hopes that the whole nation can work together to create a “sustainable Taiwan.”
Lee Chin-yung said that as a government official it is his responsibility to speak out against climate change and strive to protect his county’s air quality.
Twu also spoke about being “duty bound” as a doctor and a mayor, adding that his administration is striving to improve Chiayi’s air.
Chiayi has in the past been ranked worst in the nation for air quality, he said, adding that he thinks it is being hurt by industrial activities in China and other countries.
Protest organizers in Taichung said yesterday was the first time they had been joined by medical professionals calling on the government to safeguard the nation’s air.
Three appeals were presented during the rallies: that a Cabinet-level task force be organized to combat air pollution and climate change; an interministerial committee set deadlines for plans to improve the air quality in central and southern Taiwan; and the Air Pollution Control Act be overhauled.
Taiwan Alliance for the Protection of Water Resources spokeswoman Chen Chiao-hua (陳椒華) said the Executive Yuan and the Environmental Protection Administration should be relocated to Kaohsiung so that the authorities could learn first-hand how bad the air pollution in southern Taiwan is.
COMMITMENT: The world’s biggest contract chipmaker said that its new 2nm chips, as well as next-generation, cutting-edge 1.4nm chips, will be produced in Taiwan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that the majority of its most advanced chips would continue to be manufactured in Taiwan and that it is boosting advanced chip packaging capacity to catch up with fast-growing demand driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications like ChatGPT. Deeply rooted in Taiwan, TSMC is expanding production capacity for its most advanced 3-nanometer (nm) chips at its Tainan fab and is building new plants to produce new 2-nanometer chips in Hsinchu and Taichung in 2025. The chipmaker also plans to produce next-generation, cutting-edge 1.4-nanometer chips, which are currently under development, at home, it
Former US president Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former US president to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw. The US Department of Justice was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week amid a presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states. The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump is convicted. It also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump
PASSAGE DISPUTE: A US and Canadian transit was a provocation and an attempt to ‘exercise hegemony of navigation,’ China’s defense ministry told a forum in Singapore The Ministry of National Defense yesterday urged the Chinese Communist Party to avoid provocative behavior after a Chinese navy ship crossed the paths of a US destroyer and Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait. A Chinese ship on Saturday “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity of [the USS] Chung-Hoon,” an American destroyer, the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. The vessel “overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards [137m]. Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 [knots, 18.5kph] to avoid a collision,” the statement said. It then “crossed Chung-Hoon’s bow a second time
HARD-WON FREEDOM: Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters has not been and should not be forgotten, as China tightens its grip on Hong Kong, Lai said Taiwanese enjoy democracy and freedom and have multiple ways to express their creativity, and hopefully young people in China would also one day have the freedom to sing and express themselves, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Yesterday was the 34th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s bloody crackdown on student-led protests in Beijing in 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident. Tsai posted a photograph taken in March in a subway station in Guizhou, China, where hundreds of young people gathered to sing People With No Ideals Don’t Get Hurt (沒有理想的人不傷心), saying that they
RSS