The National Police Agency special police second headquarters has taken the lead in countering anti-nuclear activities and become a thug for Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said yesterday.
Cheng said the headquarters’ Web site included an articled titled “The anti-nuclear trend is no longer fashionable”, which claims that anti-nuclear activists are irrational, use false data and base their views on the slim chance that a nuclear disaster might happen.
It cites the German Green party — a main proponent of anti-nuclear policy in Germany — as an example of the waning popularity of anti-nuclear views as it has often been defeated in elections.
“The economy is the lifeline of a nation and electricity is the lifeline of the economy. When our primary [economic] competitors are all fully committed to nuclear power, are we supposed to be led by the nose by the anti-nuclear activists who uses false data and threats of nuclear disasters?” the article says.
The article also mentions that due to the electoral failure of the German Green Party and the pressure of signatory countries to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol — an addendum to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change calling for the “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” — that many advanced countries are reconsidering their anti-nuclear policies.
Cheng said she wondered if the police force was using funding from Taipower to cover its personnel and administrative fees, effectively turning the national police into a “security force for Taipower” or its “political warfare department.”
The special police second headquarters is a professional police task force founded in accordance to the Nuclear Power Law (原子能法) and Taipower has commissioned it to send some of its men to stand guard around its three operational nuclear power plants, as well as the one still under construction, for NT$850 million (US$28.6 million).
The article on the headquarters’ Web site goes against the majority consensus of anti-nuclear policies and ignores the aftermath of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan in March last year, and uses outdated concepts and cites government Web sites to advocate keeping nuclear power on Taipower Co’s behalf, Cheng said.
Cheng added that Article 23 of the Basic Environment Act (基本環境法) stipulates: “The government must establish plans to gradually achieve the goal of becoming a nuclear-free country,” adding that the headquarters’ Web site article has already violated the act and that the police agency should apologize for this and discipline those responsible for it.
Cheng also said that she would be inspecting the headquarters’ budget estimate to see if it contains evidence of a hidden agenda, adding that if there was such evidence she “would not let them get off without consequences.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan Green Party spokesman Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said police should be neutral and not endorse “brainwashing” efforts.
Pan added that the German Green Party’s defeat in the elections was because it had not been anti-nuclear enough to gain the support of the German people, adding that after the party made an amendment to its guidelines, it has regained popular support.
Green parties in Europe have been “receiving great amount of support” over the past few years, and even the pro-nuclear party Christian Democratic Union of Germany has also begun to show signs of leaning toward ab anti-nuclear stance, Pan said.
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