Several environmental protection organizations yesterday voiced their opposition to a government plan to distribute vouchers to stimulate consumption as this would only encourage a waste of resources and accelerate global warming.
The groups, including the Green Party Taiwan, Youth Labor Union 95, Green Citizens' Action Alliance and Taiwan Environmental Action Network, expressed their discontent at a press conference in front of Taipei 101.
The activists, dressed in monkey costumes, covered their eyes, ears and mouths with their hands, while urging the public “not to watch commercials, not to listen to sales promotion, and not to talk about buying this or that.”
They said they opposed the idea of distributing consumer vouchers to prop up a slumping economy.
Earlier in the day, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said the government would soon distribute NT$82.9 billion (US$2.6 billion) worth of consumer vouchers to help stimulate the economy.
Liu said each Taiwanese citizen, regardless of income level, would receive NT$3,600 in coupons to purchase goods at local retail outlets.
Criticizing the plan, Green Party Taiwan Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said that business downturns are part of capitalism, but encouraging indulgence and excessive waste would have a catastrophic effect on nature.
A recession could be an opportunity to give the Earth a rest, Pan said.
Hu Meng-yu (胡孟瑀) of the Youth Labor Union 95 said that the plan would put a heavy financial burden on the government and the resulting national debt would leave a burden on future generations.
He criticized the voucher program as a violation of generational justice.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS