Following an anti-nuclear power parade by thousands of protesters on Sunday and a 24-hour hunger strike by four activists in front of the legislature in Taipei overnight, demonstrations continued last night against the proposal by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to hold a national referendum to decide the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮).
About 100 protesters, mainly middle-aged and elderly people, walked to the Legislative Yuan after Sunday’s event ended on Ketagalan Boulevard at about 8pm.
The four activists who held the hunger strike were former Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) chairperson — and the parade’s commander-in-chief — Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign member Peter Wang (王獻極), National Taiwan University associate professor Chen Yung-chang (陳永昌) and former Environmental Protection Agency minister Chang Kuo-long (張國龍).
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
TEPU deputy secretary-general Lee Hsiu-jung (李秀容) said they were protesting because legislators had approved the government-backed proposal to determine the fate of the plant by holding a national referendum, which is scheduled to be referred for a second reading as soon as Monday.
TEPU founding chairperson and veteran anti-nuclear activist Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said the group had held a hunger strike at the same location in 1992, when they protested plans to unfreeze the budget for the construction of the plant.
“Until this day, the victims who living near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site still can not return to their homes. If a nuclear disaster happened in Taiwan, we would have to leave our homes forever, and the health of our generation and our children may also be affected,” said Hsinchu Environmental Protection Association chairperson Chung Shu-chi (鍾淑姬), who also participated in the 1992 protest.
“We have no [US] green card. Where can we escape to?” she said.
“Taiwan is so small that people would have no where to go if a nuclear disaster did occur, and evacuation would also be a problem. Just look at the heavy traffic congestion on national holidays,” she said.
The group said it plans to continue its protest for an indeterminate period, but at least until Sunday.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
NO RELIGIOUS VISIT: The interior minister said visas were not issued for 218 applicants for a tour of Taiwan organized by a temple due to their own non-response Chinese who had sought to enter Taiwan for a religious event were not granted visas because they were not “religious personnel” and planned to visit places not listed on their group tour’s itinerary, then never supplied supplemental information upon request, the Ministry of the Interior and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Visas were not issued for 218 of the 239 applicants, as they did not provide additional information or explanations as requested, Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) told a committee at the legislature in Taipei. Multiple groups, including the Taiwan Matsu Fellowship, had signed a petition that sought
A military procurement announcement released on Friday shows the purchase of “air/surface” weapons bound for Taitung, likely for the newly purchased Block 70 F-16V jets still awaiting delivery. The announcement shows a NT$17.22 billion (US$548.91 million) purchase agreement signed on Nov. 13 for “aircraft air/surface weapons,” to be delivered to the air force's Seventh Tactical Flight Wing stationed at the Taitung Air Force Base. The sale is scheduled to take place over nine years, with delivery completed by Nov. 30, 2032. Considering the recipient, analysts believe they are likely air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles for the military’s 66 upgraded Block 70 F-16V jets awaiting