Taichung’s air quality did not improve as much as the government has claimed, as it only ranked eighth among all municipalities with regard to its reduction of airborne particles last year, Air Clean Taiwan chairman Yeh Guang-perng (葉光芃) said at a march in Taichung yesterday, where protesters demanded clean air.
The group said that about 4,000 people attended the event, which was the last of three large-scale demonstrations against air pollution this month.
Participants marched in the afternoon from Taichung Civic Square to the plaza in front of the Taichung City Hall.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Demanding an environment with no coal, the group urged the government to decommission Taichung Power Plant’s 10 coal-fired units and not to interfere with environmental impact assessment procedures as it said Premier William Lai (賴清德) had done last month by pushing through CPC Corp, Taiwan’s plan to build a third liquefied natural gas terminal in Taoyuan.
While the Environmental Protection Administration on Saturday said the city’s air quality has improved by 18 percent since 2015, Yeh said the city’s reduction of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller — was surpassed by Tainan and Chiayi City, as well as Kinmen, Nantou, Yunlin, Changhua and Chiayi counties.
Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), on Saturday said that he would not attend the protest.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
The city government has strived to curb pollution by cutting 5 million tonnes of coal use and has pushed local manufacturers to upgrade their pollution control facilities, said Lin, who is seeking re-election.
Instead of attending the march, Lin yesterday hosted an inauguration ceremony for a landfill that has been turned into a solar power plant, Taichung City Government spokesman Cho Kuan-ting (卓冠廷) said, adding that the city government would continue cut coal use and promote “green” energy to mitigate air pollution.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taichung mayoral candidate Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) and Nantou County Commissioner Lin Ming-chen (林明溱), who is seeking re-election, took part in the demonstration.
Taichung’s air pollution is cause by the DPP’s ill-advised energy policies that allow the coal-fired power plant to continue running, Lu said, adding that it is sad to see how the health of residents in central municipalities is sacrificed when part of power produced at the plant is sent to the north.
Despite its beautiful natural views, Nantou’s air quality is often worse than Taichung, with 240 county residents killed by lung cancer last year, Lin Ming-chen said, urging the DPP to improve air quality to prevent more pollution-related deaths.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
RSS