The family of an elderly farmer who committed suicide last weekend by consuming herbicide to protest government expropriation of his land on Tuesday publicly denounced the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project and called for an end to forced expropriation of private land.
Lu A-yun (呂阿雲), 83, killed himself by drinking highly toxic herbicide on Saturday. His body was found by relatives when they came home after participating in a protest rally against forced land appropriation for the government-initiated NT$463 billion (US$15.8 billion) aerotropolis project.
The farmer owned property and farmland in Kuolin Village (菓林) in Taoyuan County’s Dayuan Township (大園), close to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the nation’s most important air transport hub.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Carrying a portrait of the deceased farmer, the family went to the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency building in Taipei on Tuesday to express their grievance, saying that Lu’s death was the direct result of the government project.
“Our family’s property, farmland and our ancestors’ cemetery plots were all expropriated by the government. Our father committed suicide because he felt ashamed toward our ancestors for not being able to protect the family inheritance,” said one of Lu’s sons, Lu Wen-chung (呂文忠).
The core region of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project covers an area of 6,859 hectares, of which 3,073 hectares needed to be expropriated from private land owners.
Under the project’s construction plan, 31 households in the area would have to make way for a 60m wide access road and a park.
Lu Wen-chung, a professor at the Taipei National University of the Arts, said the family were originally agreeable toward the government’s proposal to exchange the family’s agricultural land for land suitable for construction use.
“However, we never wanted to sell our family land,” he said. “Later we were surprised when the government’s new plan was tabled. In return, our family got our ancestors’ burial plots.”
Lu Wen-chung said his father felt that his whole life’s work had gone up in flames.
“He was distressed that his family had to move to the cemetery plots,” he said.
Wu Chi-ming (吳啟民), head of Taoyuan County’s Urban and Rural Development Bureau, said he regretted what had happened.
He admitted the project’s planning may have some oversights such as the delineation of cemetery plots into residential development zones.
“Future land allocation to original land owners will be done by drawing lots. The Taoyuan Government will also provide its opinions to the Ministry of the Interior to modify certain aspects of the aerotropolis project,” Wu said.
Additional reporting by Cheng Su-ting, staff reporter.
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
Taiwan must first strengthen its own national defense to deter a potential invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to rise, multiple European lawmakers said on Friday. In a media interview in Taipei marking the conclusion of an eight-member European parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Taiwan, the lawmakers urged Taipei to remain vigilant and increase defense spending. “All those who claim they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could draw from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described the Kremlin as a “new fascist Nazi regime” that justified
RSS