After an investigation that took more than three years to complete, the Executive Yuan on Wednesday last week issued a report on Asia Cement Corp’s mining operations in Hualien County’s Sincheng Township (新城), sparking criticism among members of the investigative team.
The Cabinet established a 13-member team in June 2018 to investigate how Asia Cement in 1973 obtained the rights to mine marble in a 400-hectare area on a mountain that is home to traditional indigenous dwellings and hunting grounds.
The team, led by Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-i (林萬億), included government officials and academics, along with representatives from Asia Cement and the indigenous community that lives near the mining site.
Photo: CNA
The Cabinet in a statement on Wednesday last week cited the 198-page report as saying that no evidence collected suggested a legal contravention by Asia Cement in its 1973 bid for mining rights from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
It said the Hualien County Government’s review of the application, as well as subsequent handling of the issue over several years, neglected the traditions of the indigenous community.
However, nine members of the investigative team released their own statement on Tuesday criticizing the Cabinet’s interpretation of the report.
The group said that Asia Cement might not have communicated conclusively with the indigenous community to obtain their consent.
The Cabinet’s position in the final chapter of the report was not reviewed by the entire investigative team, and undermined efforts to bring justice to the area’s indigenous people, it said.
Lin’s office on Tuesday said that the report detailed what had happened in the past in terms of Asia Cement’s mining operations in Sincheng, and did not contradict any court rulings made on the case.
The final chapter, which includes a conclusion and recommendations, did not deviate from the report’s findings, the office said, adding that it was approved by representatives of the central government, Asia Cement and the indigenous community, including five indigenous members of the inquiry team.
The Cabinet’s statement oversimplified the report’s findings, and failed to highlight the “inappropriate” and “unjust” findings that demonstrated how the rights of the community had been undermined over the years, said National Dong Hwa University professor Chen Yi-feng (陳毅峰), a member of the investigative team.
In another statement issued on Wednesday, the group called on the government to implement all the recommendations made in the report, including urging local authorities to allocate funding to improve infrastructure and economic development in Sincheng.
The government should also develop a plan to restore indigenous rights to land and natural resources in the area currently being developed by Asia Cement within one year of the release of their report, they said.
The company should establish an indigenous-managed fund to transform the mining site before the company ends operations there, they added.
The company said on Wednesday last week that the report “proved that Asia Cement had not committed any wrongdoing” when acquiring permission to mine in Sincheng.
Asia Cement has been allowed to continue its mining operations in the area, despite the extension of the company’s mining rights being revoked by the Supreme Administrative Court in Taipei in a case brought by indigenous residents.
The Supreme Administrative Court in September last year upheld the lower court’s ruling revoking the extension of mining rights to 2037.
Despite the legal setback, Asia Cement has strengthened its position after indigenous residents voted overwhelmingly on Saturday in favor of extending the mining rights.
The result allows the company to file a new application with the economics ministry for the extension of its mining rights.
However, those opposed said the poll did not adhere to legal procedures, adding that they would continue to fight against mining operations in the area.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
WATCH FOR HITCHHIKERS: The CDC warned those returning home from Japan to be alert for any contagious diseases that might have come back with them People who have returned from Japan following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) games during the weekend are recommended to watch for symptoms of infectious gastroenteritis, flu and measles for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Flu viruses remain the most common respiratory pathogen in Taiwan in the past four weeks and the influenza B virus accounted for 55.7 percent of the tested cases, exceeding the percentage of influenza A (H3N2) infections and becoming the local dominant strain, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a news conference on Tuesday. There were 82,187 hospital visits for
Alumni from Japan’s Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School marching band, widely known as the “Orange Devils,” staged a flash mob performance at the Grand Hotel in Taipei yesterday to thank Taiwan for its support after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The show, performed on the earthquake’s 15th anniversary, drew more than 100 spectators, some of whom arrived two hours before the show to secure a good viewing spot. The 26-member group played selections from “High School Musical,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and their signature piece “Sing Sing Sing” and shouted “I love
President William Lai (賴清德) today called for greater mutual aid between Taiwan and Japan in a post commemorating the 15th anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, saying that “true friendship reveals itself in hardship.” The magnitude 9 earthquake, the largest ever recorded in Japan, and the ensuing tsunami left 18,500 people dead or unaccounted for, and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. It was the world's worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Japan and Taiwan share a close bond built on mutual aid and trust, Lai said on Facebook, adding that he hopes they would
RSS