The government will continue construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), even if more than 6.89 million people vote against it in a referendum that proved invalid, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday.
According to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), 50 percent of eligible voters in the nation, about 9 million, must vote for a referendum to be valid, and of those who voted, at least 50 percent, about 4.5 million, must vote “yes” to the question asked for the referendum to be passed.
During the legislature’s question-and-answer session, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) asked Jiang what he would do if the referendum was invalid, but the number of people voting in support of suspending construction of the plant exceeded the number of people who voted for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his reelection in January last year — about 6.89 million.
Jiang said what he would abide by the Referendum Act, according to which a turnout of less than 50 percent of eligible voters in a national referendum is considered invalid, “tantamount to failure of a referendum.”
The KMT administration is preparing for a referendum asking the public: “Do you agree that the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be halted and that it not become operational (你是否同意核四廠停止興建不得運轉)?”
Questions have been raised about putting the fate of the facility to a national referendum, with opponents saying it would not resolve the issue because the result is likely to be a large majority voting to halt construction of the facility, but with turnout not exceeding the 50 percent threshold needed for the vote to be valid.
Lin asked Jiang to respect the will of the people if more than 6.89 million votes are positive in the referendum, which she said could mean that people were opposed to Ma’s policy to put the power plant into commercial operation.
Jiang declined, saying that Lin has mixed up two different issues.
Meanwhile, several lawmakers voiced unfavorable views of the pamphlet published by the Cabinet on Thursday which aims to convince the public of the importance of the power plant .
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said she found that the contents lack specific answers to four important questions.
“On safety, it says inspection by experts is pending. On the problem of nuclear waste, it says a repository is being looked for. On whether halting construction would result in electricity shortage, it says it’s likely. And it makes no mention of how the issue would affect electricity costs,” Lu said.
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
Recent movements by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been “highly unusual,” but the military maintains a grasp of the situation, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said on Friday, after the military for the first time said it was monitoring troop movements in China’s Dacheng Bay (大埕灣). The minister gave the remarks to reporters before appearing at the legislature on the first day of its new session. The Ministry of National Defense on Thursday evening released an air force surveillance photograph of a PLA Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, and said it was monitoring the PLA Rocket Force and ground
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
RSS