A nature reserve will be established around the historic Alangyi Trail that stretches from Taitung County to Pingtung County, saving the 12km-long Pacific coastline hiking trail from the threat posed by the planned construction of Provincial Highway No. 26.
A Pingtung County Government review committee yesterday designated 841.3 hectares of public land from Syuhai (旭海) to Cape Guanyin (觀音鼻) in Pingtung a nature reserve, meaning road construction would not be allowed in the area, in line with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保留法).
The trail runs from Taitung County’s Nantian Village (南田) to Syuhai Village (旭海) in Pingtung.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Since last year, thousands of environmental protection groups and activists have been urging the government to abandon the road plan to protect the last 1 percent of natural coastline remaining in Taiwan, which is along the Alangyi trail, saying the area is home to a rich natural ecology with many species of animals and plants, including the endangered green sea turtle.
To date, 944 civic groups and 61,040 people have signed a petition calling for the road construction to be stopped.
Yesterday morning, hundreds of activists sat outside the Pingtung County Government building, holding banners in support of a nature reserve to preserve the trail and its surroundings.
“We’ve come here to tell the review committee that Taiwan is fed up with concrete tetrapods and coastal groins,” said Hung Hui-hsiang (洪輝祥), chairman of the Pingtung Environmental Protection Union.
However, many people also favor the road because of the economic development it could bring to the area.
Some lawmakers, along with hundreds of local residents, held a counter-protest outside the county building. They held up signs reading “illegal review,” saying the residents’ opinions were being neglected and that they supported the construction of the road.
Construction work was held back over the past year by the Pingtung County Government’s designation of a temporary nature reserve.
The area’s natural landscape would be irreversiblely destroyed by road construction, Pingtung County Deputy Commissioner Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said after the meeting.
“After examining the information gathered from nearly one year of investigation on the area’s natural environment, the committee has agreed to designate the area a natural reserve,” he said.
Chung said any attempt to modify the reserve’s boundaries or terminate the county’s designation of the area as a nature reserve would also have to go through the same review process.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS