An environmental group said yesterday that it would initiate a second referendum aimed at curbing the nation’s use of nuclear power following the rejection of its previous proposal by the Cabinet.
Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) chairman Liu Chun-hsiu (劉俊秀) said that if allowed by the government’s Referendum Review Committee, the next referendum would ask the question: “Do you support Taiwan Power Company’s [Taipower] plan to extend the service life of the first nuclear power plant?”
The Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shimen District (石門) is set to have its two reactors decommissioned in 2018 and 2019.
In July, the group proposed a referendum on the nation’s newest plant, still under construction, which asked: “Do you support the installation of fuel rods in the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City?”
That initiative, however, was rejected by the Referendum Review Committee in August on the grounds that the rationale contradicted the stated purpose of the referendum.
The TEPU filed an administrative lawsuit against the committee on Sept. 14 in an attempt to overturn the decision.
A member of the anti-nuclear power group who initiated the first referendum, Kao Cheng-yen (高成炎) yesterday said the fact that a referendum plan endorsed by 120,000 people can be rejected by a 13-member committee highlights the absurdity of the referendum system.
Kao likened the situation to that of Hong Kong, where the rules of the special administrative region’s election for its chief executive are set by Beijing.
In April, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration decided to halt construction of the nearly completed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮) with immediate effect amid mounting public sentiment against nuclear power.
The government also decided that the plant being put into operation in the future would be determined by a national referendum.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
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The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
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