About 10,000 protesters nationwide are expected to take to the streets today — the first anniversary of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster — to demand that the government scrap plans for ongoing nuclear plant construction.
Organizers said yesterday that the “Bidding Farewell to Nuclear Power Parade” is being held to commemorate the tragedy of the magnitude 9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that caused the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to fail, plunging Japan into the worst nuclear crisis in its history.
Amid global concerns over nuclear safety, the parade will also build on local momentum created at April’s successful “Sunflower No Nuke Action,” in which more than 16,000 people across Taiwan participated.
“We want the world to never forget the hard lessons it has learned,” said Tsui Su-hsin (崔傃欣), a spokeswoman for the organizers.
According to Tsui, the protests are scheduled to take place in Taipei, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung, where about 100 civic groups will urge the government to decommission the existing three nuclear power plants as soon as possible and stop construction of the fourth nuclear plant in Wanli (萬里), New Taipei City (新北市).
Protesters will also call on the government to implement energy-saving policies and remove the radioactive nuclear waste stored on Lanyu (蘭嶼, also known as Orchid Island) off the coast of southeastern Taiwan, she said.
The planned simultaneous protests suggest that the state-run Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) safety checks do not seem good enough to quell the unease among members of the public.
The company said on Friday it had finished a comprehensive safety assessment of the country’s four nuclear power plants, with some machines and areas which were not due to be checked having been examined as well.
“With the approach of the first anniversary of the Japanese nuclear crisis, we’d like to assure the public that our plants are safe,” said Tsai Fuh-feng, director of Taipower’s Department of Nuclear Generation.
Besides regular checks, the three operating nuclear power plants and the one under construction all passed stress tests, which are required in European countries, he said.
Although there are still some parts of the plants that need reinforcement, Tsai said all the plants are “safe enough to counter a devastating disaster similar to the one that happened in Japan.”
After the March 11 incident in Japan last year, Taipower reviewed its safety procedures and came up with an “ultimate response guideline” specially tailored for Taiwan, to cope with similar compound disasters, Tsai said.
Following the guideline, the company can respond immediately and take critical action within an hour after a disaster, he added.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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