Hundreds of people — mainly university students — last night staged a rally outside the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to protest a petrochemical industrial park project proposed by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (KKPTC), ahead of an environmental impact assessment meeting to be held this morning.
Chanting slogans critical of the project, and urging the EPA to reject it, hundreds of students from universities across the country rallied outside the EPA despite the rain and the cool weather.
“We rally here to tell academics and government representatives taking part in the environmental impact assessment meeting that we’re keeping an eye on them,” said Huang Yu-ying (黃裕穎), a junior student at National Tsing Hua University. “The project should be turned down to protect Taiwan’s agriculture and the rich wetland ecosystem.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Huang went on to say the site selected for the project on the north side of the mouth of Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) is one of the very few large wetlands on the west coast following decades of industrial and urban development.
Besides the rich ecosystem of the wetlands, the area is a key agricultural center, with an active marine-farming industry along the coast that produces about one-third of the country’s oysters.
“The wetlands should be declared a natural reserve and properly protected instead of being used for a petrochemical park,” Huang said.
Sharing his concerns, Changhua-based writer Wu Sheng (吳晟) said it was obvious that the economic benefits the development project would bring did not merit the ecological destruction they would cause.
“Petrochemical plants can only last for a few decades, but the rich ecosystem and the deep-rooted farming culture were developed over hundreds if not thousands of years,” Wu said.
“It’s quite obvious how you should choose if the choice is to be made purely based on scientific considerations,” he said.
A 69-year-old man surnamed Wu (吳), born in Changhua but who now runs a bookstore in Taipei, attended the rally and said he would stay overnight to show his concern for his home county.
He recalled how beautiful the Changhua County countryside was when he was a child.
“Development has changed the situation, and the new petrochemical complex would just destroy everything along with the other petrochemical complex already in existence on the south side of the river mouth,” he said. “It’s the capitalists who are going to enjoy the fruits [from the development project], while the people suffer.”
Several bands performed at the rally to show their support.
Hundreds of local residents from Changhua County are scheduled to join the demonstrators this morning as the meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30am.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS