Chang Kow-lung (
In a 20-minute address to his staff at a farewell party yesterday morning, Chang talked about his vision for the future of the EPA and the nation as a whole. He said he hoped the nation would produce more Nobel Prize winners and encouraged EPA officials to be more creative in coming up with solutions that use minimal resources to generate maximum utility.
But the pithiest part of his speech came when he explained his resignation.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"I am not suited to being a member of the new [EPA] team. In addition to handling environmental protection affairs, the new team will also have to boost the prospects of the ruling party in next year's presidential election by creating the impression that the government's performance has been blemish-free," he said.
Chang's wife Hsieh Bai-he (
"President Chen [Shui-bian (
"Chang is a man of action and does not covet high office. He will not sacrifice his beliefs for the sake of economic development," she said.
A caricature displayed at the farewell party captured Chang's character. Fittingly, the former EPA chief was depicted as a gallant knight.
During his tenure, Chang was entrusted with resolving conflicts surrounding several projects, including a Formosa Group steel plant, a CPC Corp petrochemical plant and the Suhua Freeway.
Hsieh said that now Chang has resigned, these projects would likely proceed unchecked.
Nevertheless, Chang said it was "necessary and normal" that he step down.
"I came [into the job] to generate some ideas. The administration needs to bring in people with better ideas," he said.
Chang earned his doctorate degree in physics from Yale University in 1968.
Before he was recruited by former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Chang was a professor at National Taiwan University and was involved in environmental campaigns launched by non-governmental groups in the 1980s.
Well known for his opposition to the construction of the Forth Nuclear Power Plant, in 1986 Chang founded New Environment magazine.
Two years later, he formed the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, one of the active environmental groups in the country.
Chang presided over several initiatives during his term as EPA minister, including suspending the use of disposable utensils in government and school cafeterias and securing initial legislative approval for the greenhouse gas emissions reduction bill this year.
"Environmental protection is his faith and he [Chang Kow-lung] practiced it with the passion of a religious follower," EPA Deputy Minister Chang Tzi-chin (
"He has to work extremely hard to work under this administrative framework, but he had fought the good fight," Chang Tzi-chin said.
When asked what her husband would do in his retirement, Hsieh said the couple planned to travel around the world and to teach physics in developing countries as a volunteer.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by