A developer’s plan to build an ossuary near Shulin Elementary School in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪) ran into opposition from local residents, who vowed to demonstrate against the plan at a company hearing scheduled for today.
Taoyuan City Councilor Yang Chao-wei (楊朝偉) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Thursday accused Diwang Development Ltd Co of being dishonest with local residents.
Yang said residents and a borough warden told him they were invited to a charity banquet for disadvantaged people by Diwang Development.
In the middle of the meal, a banner identifying the event as a charity banquet was replaced by another that read “construction publicity event,” he said.
The attendees thought the developers were trying to trick them into supporting the project, Yang said.
“Building an ossuary near the school would of course be controversial for the parents and borough residents. Diwang Development not only failed to explain its project, but also resorted to deception to hide its intentions. This is immoral,” he said.
The planned ossuary would be 195m from the school, which is less than the legal minimum distance of 300m, Taoyuan City Councilor Chen Chih-wen (陳治文) of the Democratic Progressive Party said, adding that she will lobby against the project at the city council.
A spokesman for Diwang Development, which was founded by the buddhist group Dadaofo Chengzong (大道佛乘宗), said the planned ossuary’s site is an informal cemetery with 262 unmarked graves, adding that the company is “trying to do right by the place.”
“We hope the residents will today respond to our briefing rationally so that we would have an opportunity to explain everything,” the spokesman said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
RSS