A group of writers, musicians and artists yesterday protested against a controversial plan by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co to build oil refineries on ecologically sensitive wetlands along the coast of Dacheng Township (大城) in Changhua County.
LOSING THE SEA
“Although we live on an island surrounded by the sea, we’re so far from the sea in our daily lives,” writer Li Ang (李昂), a native of Lugang (鹿港), a costal town in Changhua County, told a press conference at the legislature.
“When I was a kid, we couldn’t go to the sea because the coast was under tight control during the Martial Law period. When I grew up, the coast was still unreachable because of the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park,” Li said. “Once the Kuokuang oil refineries are built, we will completely lose the Changhua coastline.”
Wu Sheng (吳晟), another Changhua-born writer and poet, turned his anger on politicians who claimed that most of those who opposed the plan were not locals, but outsiders who did not know the needs of local residents.
“Of course the allegations are false. I should point out, however, that although Changhua residents may be the most affected by the oil refineries, the destruction of the environment would have an impact everyone in the country — even people in other countries,” he said.
Writer Liu Ke-shiang (劉克襄) said that at this critical time, when governments around the world are formulating policies to cut down greenhouse gas emissions, “[President] Ma [Ying-jeou, 馬英九] is the one with the power to decide whether Taiwan should take a road that leads to sustainable development.”
MA’S TURN
“It’s not the humpback dolphins, but Ma who should take the turn,” he said, triggering laughter.
Liu was referring to a remark by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) earlier this year that humpback dolphins would know to take a turn when running into oil refineries.
Environmental groups claim that the construction of oil refineries in Dacheng would block an underwater corridor used by critically endangered humpback dolphins.
In a prerecorded video, the guitarist of the band Alphasia, Luxia Wu (吳逸駿), said: “We could save all the trouble of trying to save the humpback dolphins by curing Wu first,” he said.
Music critic Chang Tieh-chih (張鐵志) said efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions would be more effective if the Kuokuang oil refineries were shut down.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a