Residents of Matsu yesterday voted in favor of the construction of a casino resort on the outlying islands in a closely watched referendum that opened the door to the nation’s first legal gambling establishment.
According to final figures announced by the Lienchiang County Government, 56 percent voted in favor of the initiative, against 42 percent who opposed it. A total of 3,162 of 7,762 eligible voters cast ballots, for a voter turnout of 40.7 percent. Among those who voted, 1,795 supported the casino plan, while 1,341 were against it. There were 28 invalid ballots.
Although frustrated at the result, Alliance Against the Legalization of Gambling executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said it was not the end of the group’s campaign against the casino.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“Matsu residents may have been deceived by the developer and the county commissioner’s wrongful policies,” Ho told the Taipei Times by telephone. “The developer made a lot of promises; we’ll wait and see if it can fulfill the promises. We will initiate another referendum in three years.”
Ho was referring to the promises that resort developer Weidner Resorts Taiwan made of constructing an international airport and college town there, as well as a causeway linking Beigan Island to the neighboring island of Nangan (南竿).
The company also promised that after the first year of the casino’s operation, it would give each Matsu resident a monthly subsidy of NT$18,000, and if profit reaches a certain level, it would raise the monthly subsidy to NT$80,000 at the beginning of its fifth year of operation.
Lienchiang County Commissioner Yang Sui-sheng (楊綏生) welcomed the result, saying it could bring in change for Matsu.
“With the casino resort would come improvements in transportation, and when transportation improves, we will be able to welcome more tourists,” Yang said. “Tourism development is our ultimate goal.”
However, independent Legislator Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) said there were still many issues that have to be straightened out.
“Before a casino resort can be built, the legislature first needs to pass the proposed Gambling Act [博奕法],” he said. “Besides, most of the land in Matsu is either government or military property. Some is even restricted military zones — so there is a long and complicated administrative procedure to go through.”
He also questioned Weidner Resorts Taiwan’s willingness to make such a huge investment to improve or build transportation and tourism facilities in Matsu.
“I’m personally opposed to the casino plan, but I respect the opinion of the majority,” Chen said.
Chen Ying-mei (陳鶯梅), a resident of Matsu who works as a tour guide and voted for the casino plan, said she welcomed the result, but did not believe Weidner would be able to fulfill all its promises.
“As a member of the tourism industry, I’m for the casino plan, because it would bring improvement to transportation facilities — which is the biggest problem in Matsu,” Chen Ying-mei said. “The government would not spend resources on Matsu with so few people, so our only hope are big businesses wanting to invest.”
She said that most of those who opposed the casino plan either do not live in Matsu or are government employees who do not have to worry about their source of income.
“But for us who live on this island, we need to make money to survive,” she added.
“Honestly, I don’t believe that the future casino operator would be able to give us the NT$80,000 per month subsidy, I don’t even care if the casino goes out of business in a few years,” she said. “When the casino closes, the bridge and the airport that they built would still be around, right?”
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS