Taiwanese environmental activists and a legislator yesterday supported a call by Japanese environmental groups to join an international lawsuit against the builders of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant for compensation for mental anguish as a means to stop nuclear power plant construction.
Representatives of Taiwanese groups including the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, Gongliao Anti-Nuclear Self-Help Association, and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) yesterday accompanied the Japanese representatives at a press conference at the Legislative Yuan.
The Japanese representatives — Daisuke Sato of the No Nukes Asia Forum, Seungkoo Choi (崔勝久) of No-Nukes Asian Action and Akihiro Shima (島昭宏), their lawyer, attended discussions with the Taiwanese groups in the past few days, and invited them to file the international lawsuit together against companies including GE, Hitachi and Toshiba.
TEPU founding chairperson and veteran anti-nuclear activist Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said the lawyers’ group believes people have “no-nukes rights” that allow them to “avoid living in the fear of nuclear disasters.”
“It’s a weird situation that only the operating company — Tokyo Electric Power Co — has to shoulder the responsibility for dealing with damage caused by the disaster, while the builders of the plants do not,” Shima said, adding that it is unfair that the builders do not have to pay compensation.
Urging all clients to demand ￥1 million (US$9,574) from the manufacturing companies as compensation for mental anguish, the lawyers’ group said the main point of asking for compensation is to make the companies bear responsibility for what they build.
As the builders of the plants are exempted from responsibility, they may focus only on economic benefits, rather than nuclear safety, Shih said, adding that regulations in Taiwan also only require the operating company and government to take the blame in the event of a nuclear disaster.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
‘POOP ON STAGE’: The song, which talks about the reluctance to graduate and anxiety about a lack of job opportunities, resonated with many students’ feelings The original song Poop on Stage has been chosen as National Taiwan University’s (NTU) graduation song this year, sparking much debate regarding the song’s title and content, which describes students’ anxiety about post-graduation unemployment. The title, Shang Tai Da Bian (上台大便), is a play on words that literally means “go on stage to poop.” The first three characters, shang tai da (上台大), also mean “to attend NTU,” as “Taida” is a common abbreviation for the university. The last character, bian (便), can mean “convenient” or “then,” but is more commonly associated with defecation. The lyrics of the song describe students’ reluctance to graduate and
RSS