Upset about Miaoli County’s renewed demolition order for the last four households in the farming village of Dapu (大埔) in Jhunan Township (竹南), affected residents and their supporters yesterday protested outside the Executive Yuan, calling on Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to intervene on their behalf.
Holding up a large banner that read “The Dapu dispute is not solved yet” and placards that read “Save Dapu on July 5,” dozens of people — including affected Dapu residents and supporters — rallied outside the Executive Yuan ahead of the self-demolition deadline set for Friday next week.
“The government is no different from a robber. The land on which our family house was built is for residential use, but the county government wants to flatten our home to make way for a science park,” said Ko Chih-chuan (柯智傳), one of the affected residents. “Does this make any sense to any of you?”
Photo: Taipei Times
Taiwan Rural Front chairman Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) said that, amid protests three years ago against land seizure by the government in Dapu to make way for a science park, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who was premier at the time, called a meeting attended by Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻), Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Lin Join-sane (林中森), who was the Cabinet secretary-general at the time, and Jiang, who was minister of the interior.
The meeting reached a conclusion to preserve the remaining four houses, while finding a plot of land where the affected families could relocate their houses and farms.
However, the Ministry of the Interior later decided to flatten the houses anyway and, while Dapu residents are still in the middle of an administrative lawsuit against the county government and the ministry, they received a renewed demolition order last week, asking them to demolish their own houses by July 5 or face forced demolition by the county.
“We are here because Jiang, as interior minister at the time, also made the promise along with Wu, and in fact, Wu came to the conclusion to preserve the remaining houses because the ministry said there would be no problem after an assessment,” said Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全), an associate professor at National Taipei University’s Department of Real Estate and Built Environment.
“Jiang is a liar,” he added.
Acting Construction and Planning Agency director-general Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍), who received the protesters, said that the agency would try its best to help.
“However, ultimately it is the county government that has final say,” Hsu said.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS