Land owners and activists yesterday staged a protest at the legislature in Taipei, accusing the government of reneging on its promise and abruptly passing proposed revisions to the Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例) to second reading without prior discussion.
They also expressed their concern that the Cabinet-proposed revisions might eventually be adopted, as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enjoys an absolute majority in the legislature.
Following a slew of protests over government seizure of private land for development projects around the country, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) made several promises to amend the Land Expropriation Act, including requiring land developers to clearly state that they are necessary and how the project would uphold public interests.
Photo: CNA
However, the amendments proposed by the Cabinet did not include such clauses and only aim to change the basis for calculation of compensation for landowners from published prices to market prices.
Landowners and other advocacy groups said the proposed revisions should also include the participation of a third-party expert when estimating the land value.
In a bid to ensure that the amendments are passed before the legislative election in January, the Legislative Yuan — under the KMT’s lead — decided to skip initial discussions in the first reading and pushed the proposal straight into second reading.
“The KMT put the amendments directly into second reading to avoid discussions in the Internal Administration Committee,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan. “With its absolute majority, the KMT could pass the amendments despite opposition, and the expectations of landowners, farming activists and other rights advocacy groups would be sacrificed.”
“While Ma is having his ‘homestay’ tour around the country for his re-election campaign, I invite the president to stay at my house and the homes of all land expropriation victims,” Metro A7 Station Development Project Self-Help Group chairwoman Hsu Yu-hung (徐玉紅) said. “He should stay with us, eat with us, work with us, be treated by us and hear what we have to say.”
The expropriation project is part of the “A7 station of the Taoyuan International Airport MRT development project,” which aims to build affordable housing units and an industrial zone near the temporarily named “A7 station” on the planned Taoyuan International Airport MRT line connecting central Taipei and Taoyuan County.
A tearful Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), a resident of Dapu Borough (大埔), Jhunan Township (竹南), said she was saddened when she received an official notice from the Miaoli County Government informing her that her home was to be taken over for a science park project.
“The house that I live in is the product of a lifetime of hard work by me and my family,” she said. “The legislature should revise the Land Expropriation Act according to the people’s voices, so that no one in this country would live in constant fear of having their property taken away by the government.”
Wang Wan-ying (王婉盈), a resident of Houli District (后里) in Greater Taichung, whose house was torn down to make way for Phase 3 of the Central Taiwan Science Park, said that if the government was sincere about increasing the nation’s self-sufficiency in food, “it should stop taking over farmlands for development projects.”
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS