The Executive Yuan is adjusting its national regional plan and the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is working on amendments to the Enforcement Rules for the Regional Plan Act (區域計畫法施行細則).
The authorities have made several attempts to consult with civic groups to reduce conflicts, but these matters have run up against the same problem: While the central government wants to devolve some of its powers and responsibilities to local governments, the local authorities do not enjoy people’s trust.
The Ministry of the Interior wants counties and municipalities to operate their own regional planning committees, and the EPA wants them to do a proper job of conducting environmental impact assessments. Environmental groups are worried that development projects will not be examined properly and that they will get pushed through due to vested interests.
Two examples, one positive and one negative, can show why such worries exist.
The controversy over environmental impact assessments for the Miramar Resort on the Taitung County coast has dragged on for 10 years with no resolution because the Taitung County Government’s assessments have not been done in accordance with the law. To begin with, the county government helped the resort’s developers evade an assessment. However, eventually, an assessment became unavoidable. Since then, there have been seven assessments, but none has been conducted legitimately.
The other example is that of the expansion of the Hsinchu Science Park using land in Miaoli County’s Houlong Township (後龍), which was rejected by the ministry’s Construction and Planning Agency in the face of protests by Wanbao Borough (灣寶) farmers. This is a rare example of a successful campaign against land expropriation.
Another reason for this success was that the department in charge of examining the expansion plan was the ministry’s Regional Planning Commission. If the Miaoli County Government comes to have a regional planning commission of its own, it is doubtful whether fertile farmland like that of Wanbao will continue to be preserved.
Part of the reason why the ministry and the EPA want to hand over some of their powers and responsibilities is that they often face protests and even administrative lawsuits, yet instead of tackling the underlying problems, they prefer to skirt around them. Civic groups are obviously not willing to let them get away with that.
At the same time, civic groups must admit that we cannot go on forever expecting the central government to be the arbiter of justice, sending its agents to receive local residents’ petitions and handle disputes.
There are two key reasons why people do not trust local governments. The first is a lack of information transparency and public participation in all kinds of procedures, and the second is the lack of effective checks and balances in interactions between executive and legislative departments, which results in a monolithic approach to policy decisions. The former reason represents a lack of participatory democracy, while the latter results from neglect of duty in a representative democracy.
Both these problems require the public to keep challenging the government to reform the system, to educate executive departments so that they will come to carry out procedures more smoothly.
Nationwide local elections will be held on Nov. 29. Are the above-mentioned expectations being raised as an electoral issue? Does sufficient pressure exist to make these changes happen? If these concerns are still not raised, the ministry and the EPA will have to go on acting as the last lines of defense.
Wang Chung-ming is a spokesperson for the Green Party Taiwan.
Translated by Julian Clegg
There are moments in history when America has turned its back on its principles and withdrawn from past commitments in service of higher goals. For example, US-Soviet Cold War competition compelled America to make a range of deals with unsavory and undemocratic figures across Latin America and Africa in service of geostrategic aims. The United States overlooked mass atrocities against the Bengali population in modern-day Bangladesh in the early 1970s in service of its tilt toward Pakistan, a relationship the Nixon administration deemed critical to its larger aims in developing relations with China. Then, of course, America switched diplomatic recognition
The international women’s soccer match between Taiwan and New Zealand at the Kaohsiung Nanzih Football Stadium, scheduled for Tuesday last week, was canceled at the last minute amid safety concerns over poor field conditions raised by the visiting team. The Football Ferns, as New Zealand’s women’s soccer team are known, had arrived in Taiwan one week earlier to prepare and soon raised their concerns. Efforts were made to improve the field, but the replacement patches of grass could not grow fast enough. The Football Ferns canceled the closed-door training match and then days later, the main event against Team Taiwan. The safety
The National Immigration Agency on Tuesday said it had notified some naturalized citizens from China that they still had to renounce their People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizenship. They must provide proof that they have canceled their household registration in China within three months of the receipt of the notice. If they do not, the agency said it would cancel their household registration in Taiwan. Chinese are required to give up their PRC citizenship and household registration to become Republic of China (ROC) nationals, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. He was referring to Article 9-1 of the Act
The Chinese government on March 29 sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community by announcing the untimely death of one of its most revered spiritual figures, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His sudden passing in Vietnam raised widespread suspicion and concern among his followers, who demanded an investigation. International human rights organization Human Rights Watch joined their call and urged a thorough investigation into his death, highlighting the potential involvement of the Chinese government. At just 56 years old, Rinpoche was influential not only as a spiritual leader, but also for his steadfast efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan identity and cultural
RSS