Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) yesterday reassured farmers who were ordered to let their rice fields go fallow that the government would make good on its promise to compensate them for their losses.
"I can understand the radical reactions of some farmers because when the KMT was in power the government refused to pay compensation after the water problem was resolved," Cabinet spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (
"I guarantee you that the Cabinet will make good on its promise to compensate farmers for their losses, although the water shortage problem may soon be resolved," Chuang said.
About 14,600 hectares of rice fields in the irrigation areas of Shihmen, Taoyuan County and Touchien River in Hsinchu County have been lying fallow since Friday in a bid to solve the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park's water-shortage problem.
The Cabinet's Council of Agriculture is offering farmers hurt by the shortage compensation of NT$46,000 per hectare. Those who have planted rice seeds will receive an additional NT$9,100 per hectare, while those who have tilled the land and are ready for transplantation will receive additional NT$11,000 per hectare. Farmers who have transplanted rice seedlings will receive an additional NT$7,000 per hectare.
The total amount of compensation is estimated to be more than NT$1 billion. The council has managed to gather NT$290 million and will try to find another NT$710 million to make up the shortfall as soon as possible, Chuang said.
Although the water-shortage problem in the science park has been alleviated, the Water Resource Bureau began producing artificial rain near the Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County, the Paoshan Reservoir in Hsinchu County and at a weather station in Chupei, Hsinchu County, yesterday morning.
Bureau officials said they may expand the area to Miaoli County today if the amount of cloud cover is sufficient.
On Tuesday, farmers in Chutung township, Hsinchu County, opened a water gate at the Chutung Irrigation Channel to direct water to their fields and away from the science park.
In Chonglin village, Hsinchu County, hundreds of farmers hired a bulldozer to crack open a stone wall built to divert water from an irrigation channel to the science park yesterday.
Meanwhile, Premier Yu Shyi-kun asked the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission to find out why it took so long for government officials to become aware of the water-shortage problem.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody