About 50 people holding flags reading “No nukes, No more Fukushima” stood at the gate of the Executive Yuan in an anti-nuclear demonstration yesterday, calling on Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to reject a proposal to pass an additional budget for the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
The safety of the yet-to-be-completed plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) has become the topic of heated controversy.
With handwritten messages such as “I am a student,” “I am a social worker,” “I work on a farm,” “I sing rap,” or “I am a mother” written on their flags, the protestors, who hailed from all walks of life, together shouted “reject the additional budget [proposal] for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, stop the dangerous plant.”
Photo: CNA
The demonstration’s convenor, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰), said the budget for the construction of the plant has gradually increased from NT$169.7 billion (US$5 billion) to NT$280 billion, and there are also plans to request further funds in the first half of this year.
While previous decisions were said to have been made by specialists, now billions of dollars were being spent constructing a plant that has many safety problems, Hung said, encouraging people to learn about nuclear power and not leave all the decisions to specialists.
The alliance said that the Executive Yuan has the authority to deny or approve any proposed additional funds and it urged the new Cabinet to reject the budget proposal for the plant.
Lee Chien-chen (李建誠), a member of the 248 Market, a weekend farmers’ market, said consumers do not dare purchase any agricultural products produced near Fukushima following the nuclear disaster.
If the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant goes into commercial operation and an accident occurs, agricultural products from nearby would also be affected, Lee said.
The demonstrators also presented a photo album consisting of pictures of people holding the anti-nuclear flags at various locations. The demonstrators hoped the photos would serve to remind the Cabinet of Taiwan’s natural beauty and how it could be endangered by nuclear power.
They also vowed they would never give up and would do all they could to stop the approval of the additional funds and the insertion of the reactors’ fuel rods.
Meanwhile, at a separate setting, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should immediately announce the suspension of the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant without holding a referendum on this issue.
Although an anti-nuclear referendum proposal was initiated by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and numerous environmental groups, Su told the legislature that if Ma was determined, he should stop the construction by himself.
“Actually, it is not necessary to hold a referendum,” he said.
Su said the DPP has insisted on making Taiwan nuclear-free in 30 years.
After the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, he said, the whole world was promoting non-nuclear initatives. The party asked Ma to immediately suspend the construction of the plant, refuse to earmark further funds and halt the loading of the fuel rods at the yet-to-be-completed plant.
The chairman added that the DPP is determined to enact a law that stipulates that Taiwan is a non-nuclear country.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,