At the request of lawmakers, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) will conduct a survey to assess the public’s views on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) within one month and release its results in the next two weeks.
The motion that demanded an official survey was sponsored mostly by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and was approved at a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday.
The request came amid mounting calls for the government to rescind its decision to put the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to a referendum and order an immediate halt to its construction following major anti-nuclear demonstrations on Sunday that attracted as many as 200,000 people nationwide.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
According to the approved proposal, the commission, which is in charge of large-scale national public opinion polls on government policy, has to complete the survey within one month and send the questionnaire and its results to the legislature within the next two weeks.
RDEC Minister Sung Yu-hsieh (宋餘俠) that requested three or four months to perform the task, but that timetable was not accepted by lawmakers.
“Don’t procrastinate any longer. [A decision on the issue] has to be fast and clear, otherwise the issue will continue to consume the nation and the public,” said KMT Legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井), who is co-chair of the commission.
If the survey finds that more than 50 percent of survey respondents would vote in favor of halting construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, then there would be no need to have a referendum, Liao said.
In response to lawmakers, Sung said that the commission has not yet carried out a poll specifically related to the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, but said that some related questions had been included in previous surveys.
He refused to reveal details of the previous polls.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said that recent polls released by Taiwan Indicator Survey Research and Taiwan Thinktank, Sunday’s rally and public opinion as presented by the media have all shown “overwhelming popular support for the construction [of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant] to be halted.”
“If the RDEC is to conduct a survey, make sure that you refrain from asking leading questions that would mean survey results that do not reflect public opinion,” Wu said.
More KMT lawmakers have joined calls for the government to halt construction of the plant.
KMT Legislator Wang Huei-mei (王惠美) said that Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has suggested the possibility of the government halting construction.
The commission should present a survey on the issue to the Cabinet so that it may consider whether to halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, Wang said.
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
WORKING UP AN APPETITE: Sales at the Rueifong Night Market surged 20 to 30 percent, while seats at Liouhe Night Market were packed until 1am, market officials said South Korean pop band Blackpink’s concerts over the weekend in Kaohsiung helped draw large crowds to local night markets, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. The two concerts on Saturday and Sunday at Kaohsiung National Stadium drew more than 90,000 people. The city government offered NT$50 vouchers to spend locally to concertgoers who showed their ticket stubs. Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市) management committee head Chuang Chi-chang (莊其章) said that crowds over the weekend surged at about 10pm and the market remained packed until 1:30am. “Almost all the seats were filled,” Chuang said. Night market stall owners had stocked up in expectation of an increased number