The family of an elderly farmer who committed suicide last weekend by consuming herbicide to protest government expropriation of his land on Tuesday publicly denounced the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project and called for an end to forced expropriation of private land.
Lu A-yun (呂阿雲), 83, killed himself by drinking highly toxic herbicide on Saturday. His body was found by relatives when they came home after participating in a protest rally against forced land appropriation for the government-initiated NT$463 billion (US$15.8 billion) aerotropolis project.
The farmer owned property and farmland in Kuolin Village (菓林) in Taoyuan County’s Dayuan Township (大園), close to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the nation’s most important air transport hub.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Carrying a portrait of the deceased farmer, the family went to the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency building in Taipei on Tuesday to express their grievance, saying that Lu’s death was the direct result of the government project.
“Our family’s property, farmland and our ancestors’ cemetery plots were all expropriated by the government. Our father committed suicide because he felt ashamed toward our ancestors for not being able to protect the family inheritance,” said one of Lu’s sons, Lu Wen-chung (呂文忠).
The core region of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project covers an area of 6,859 hectares, of which 3,073 hectares needed to be expropriated from private land owners.
Under the project’s construction plan, 31 households in the area would have to make way for a 60m wide access road and a park.
Lu Wen-chung, a professor at the Taipei National University of the Arts, said the family were originally agreeable toward the government’s proposal to exchange the family’s agricultural land for land suitable for construction use.
“However, we never wanted to sell our family land,” he said. “Later we were surprised when the government’s new plan was tabled. In return, our family got our ancestors’ burial plots.”
Lu Wen-chung said his father felt that his whole life’s work had gone up in flames.
“He was distressed that his family had to move to the cemetery plots,” he said.
Wu Chi-ming (吳啟民), head of Taoyuan County’s Urban and Rural Development Bureau, said he regretted what had happened.
He admitted the project’s planning may have some oversights such as the delineation of cemetery plots into residential development zones.
“Future land allocation to original land owners will be done by drawing lots. The Taoyuan Government will also provide its opinions to the Ministry of the Interior to modify certain aspects of the aerotropolis project,” Wu said.
Additional reporting by Cheng Su-ting, staff reporter.
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