Struggling to win support from fellow Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members for the continued construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, Premier Jiang Yi-huan (江宜樺) last night invited mayors of cities in the “evacuation zone” around the facility to dinner.
Jiang was trying to foster unity among influential party members to defend the construction of the plant, which has met with strong opposition from the public.
The meeting began at 7pm and had not finished by 9:50pm.
A number of polls have shown that more than 70 percent of the public want the plant to be scrapped, fueling calls for the government to order an immediate halt to construction.
Concerned over the safety of the plant, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) had said that he would vote to suspend construction if a referendum were held now, becoming the first KMT local government head to declare his stance on the issue.
Earlier yesterday, Hau said he would not change his position.
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) declined to reveal his voting intention, but has expressed strong concerns over safety and worries about nuclear waste disposal.
“If Taiwan cannot deal with the problem of disposal of nuclear waste, how can the country be in a position to use nuclear energy?” Chu said.
Keelung Mayor Chang Tong-rong (張通榮) said that the three cities have to be on the same page on the issue.
Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國), Deputy Taipei Mayor Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) and Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) also attended the meeting.
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.
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
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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