The nation is parched, reservoir levels are low and a drought looms. It was against this backdrop that Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said he was hoping a typhoon would come along soon to offer some respite. This comment was roundly criticized.
It is only March and the typhoon season is four or five months away. Saying you hope a typhoon will come soon to drown out the drought does not make sense. While it is true that typhoons do bring rain, they cause a lot of damage. In 2009, the Water Resources Agency praised Typhoon Morakot for the much-needed water it brought — the highest amount of rainfall in 50 years — that filled the reservoirs to the brim and ended a drought. However, with such heavy rainfall over such a short period came much destruction and more than 600 lives were lost.
Rainfall during the typhoon season accounts for more than 55 percent of the nation’s annual water supply. They are the main source of water, followed by the East Asian rainy season, or plum rains, in late spring and early summer. It makes more sense, then, to put one’s hope in the plum rains, not some premature typhoon.
Taiwan is surrounded on all sides by water and it rains frequently. The public need to learn how to have a positive relationship with weather fronts and typhoons, and to value the rain they bring.
Although it rains often, the rivers running down from the mountains are relatively short and rapid-flowing because of the steep gradient, and storing the run-off presents a problem. The public is often unaware of the importance of conserving water until a drought hits.
The government should not have to pray for rain. Its job is to review the nation’s water usage strategy and to decide how much water is allocated for industrial use and how much for the general public. Naturally, the priority should go to the latter, but when water resources are low, it is only right that swimming pools and car washes are among the first things to be restricted.
Water-intensive farming also needs to be addressed during times of shortage, by controlling the water supply or even by encouraging a change to drought-resistant crops.
The water allocation policy needs to be rethought for water-intensive industrial processes by, for example, requiring companies to increase their use of untreated water.
If the government is concerned about droughts, it should be looking at the use and reuse of existing water resources, and perhaps also at setting the price of water at levels that will encourage the public to conserve it. If all the sewage treatment plants nationwide were operational and half of the 3.8 million tonnes of water used every day was recycled, we would not need to build another reservoir.
The nation already has many reservoirs. Unfortunately, they are prone to getting clogged up by silt from the deforested mountainous regions, helped along by frequent earthquakes and landslides. This silt not only reduces the capacity and operational lifespan of reservoirs, it is expensive to remove. The government should think about how to maintain upstream regions and protect the environment in those areas, to help keep reservoirs free of silt.
As global climate change exacerbates the cycle of droughts and floods, it is going to take more than simply regulating the supply and allocation of water resources to ensure our water needs are met. The government is going to need to come up with a national land usage and industrial restructuring plan, including land development, allocation and usage, a move away from water-intensive industries and a more efficient supply of water resources.
Why is Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not a “happy camper” these days regarding Taiwan? Taiwanese have not become more “CCP friendly” in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use of spies and graft by the United Front Work Department, intimidation conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Police/Coast Guard, and endless subversive political warfare measures, including cyber-attacks, economic coercion, and diplomatic isolation. The percentage of Taiwanese that prefer the status quo or prefer moving towards independence continues to rise — 76 percent as of December last year. According to National Chengchi University (NCCU) polling, the Taiwanese
It would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every US President Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging UK upside to Trump’s efforts at crashing the post-Cold War order. It might even get a boost from Thursday’s Washington visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In July last year, when Starmer became prime minister, the Labour Party was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has brought renewed scrutiny to the Taiwan-US semiconductor relationship with his claim that Taiwan “stole” the US chip business and threats of 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made processors. For Taiwanese and industry leaders, understanding those developments in their full context is crucial while maintaining a clear vision of Taiwan’s role in the global technology ecosystem. The assertion that Taiwan “stole” the US’ semiconductor industry fundamentally misunderstands the evolution of global technology manufacturing. Over the past four decades, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has grown through legitimate means
RSS