It takes just two hours to travel from Taipei to Hualien by train, but the nation’s north and east seem like two different worlds.
As the train pulls into Hualien County’s Sincheng Train Station, passengers can see Asia Cement Corp’s mine on a hill; at its foot are a few humble houses.
Further back are towering mountains, muted as if musing.
Despite decades-long efforts by environmentalists, most people did not know about the problems caused by the mine until they saw aerial footage shot by late director Chi Po-lin (齊柏林), who died in a helicopter crash in Hualien on June 10.
In the three weeks following Chi’s death, thousands of people signed an online petition and participated in a march initiated by environmental groups to express their fury over the company’s extension of mining permits.
The government made promises and the groups kept criticizing them.
The Control Yuan said it has launched an investigation into the case. Before long, people returned to their daily lives.
A group of Aborigines camped outside the Presidential Office Building to protest regulations about Aboriginal lands. They first camped on the Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei and, after being driven away by police in heavy rain, camped at a nearby MRT station to continue their protest.
People need evidence — photographs, videos, narratives — to have some taste of the truth even though it is not easily attainable in a world of spectacles.
“Officials said eastern Taiwan is behind the mountains, but actually this is the place that sees the first rays of sun from the Pacific Ocean,” Aboriginal elder Wang Ming-yuan (王明源) told visitors to his Dipit community in Hualien County’s Fengbin Township (豐濱).
His words are penetrating, as they challenge the stereotypes held by people with Taipei-centric mindsets.
Whether it is Taipei-centrism or Han-centrism, people outside the center continue to endure unfair distribution of resources.
What is the meaning of lands, and of existence?
The questions become pressing at a time when the government is promoting the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program and the Council of Agriculture is reckoning the nation’s farmlands.
People need to stop, look around and consider what sort of surroundings they hope to live and die with their loved ones.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
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