Protesters back renewable energy
　

NO TO NUCLEAR POWER: The demonstrators also protested a proposal to extend the operating life of the Jinshan nuclear power plant by 20 years
　

By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009, Page 2
　

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Executive Yuan yesterday to urge the government to focus on the creation of renewable energy instead of relying on nuclear power.

The group, led by officials from the Green Party and the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), demanded the government scrap a proposal to extend the operating life of Jinshan (金山) nuclear power plant as well as plans to build a fourth plant.

“The government should stop pushing nuclear power under the guise of lowering carbon emissions. It is not an alternative for real sustainable energy sources,” Green Party spokesman Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said. “Nuclear power is a dying trend.”

Pan said that authorities have yet to achieve public consensus on the issue and he slammed the Ma government for ignoring public opinion and refusing to implement large-scale development for sustainable and clean alternative energies, such as solar, wind and tidal power.

“The public should be wary of recent media reports saying nuclear power is a lesser evil than global warming,” TEPU secretary-general Lee Cho-han (李卓翰) said.

Lee was referring to a Washington Post article last month that cited environmentalists, including former Greenpeace campaigner Steven Tindale, as saying that nuclear power was a necessary tool to combat emissions increases.

“It really is a question about the greater evil — nuclear waste or climate change,” Tindale was quoted as saying in the article.

“But there is no contest anymore. Climate change is the bigger threat, and nuclear is part of the answer,” he was quoted as saying.

Tindale had previously led Greenpeace protests against the construction of nuclear power plants in the UK.

Hong Kong-based Greenpeace representatives said Tindale made the comments after he had left the organization and the group was still firmly opposed to the development of nuclear power.

“Nuclear power is not the answer to global warming,” Greenpeace representative Chow Yuen-ping (周婉蘋) told the Taipei Times.

“[In Taiwan] as in other parts of the world, nuclear power is taking resources away from real solution — as a result, Greenpeace continues to oppose nuclear power,” Chow said.

Protestors chanting “We want our children to live in a nuclear- free world” and “Don’t nuke the environment,” were met by scores of police officers at the main entrance to the Executive Yuan.

The activists also highlighted concerns about the safety of state-owned Taipower’s proposal to extend the operating life of the Jinshan nuclear reactors by 20 years to 2038.

Atomic Energy Council officials have said the proposal was safe and similar extensions have been implemented in the US and Japan.

“The [Jinshan plant] is 100 percent safe — we do not foresee any problems in extending its operating life for another 20 years,” Department of Nuclear Regulation director Chen Yi-bin (陳宜彬) said.

Chen said his department expects to complete a safety analysis of the Jinshan extension proposal by July 2011.

Southern reservoirs need silt dredging

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009, Page 2

In addition to plans to restrict rice cultivation in drought-hit southern Taiwan, there is a need for special funding for dredging silt from some reservoirs in the area, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Huang Chung-chiou (黃重球) said yesterday.

Huang said the Water Resources Agency (WRA) has triggered its farming suspension mechanism in the Chiayi and Tainan areas because of the drought, and that the Taiwan Water Corp is planning to launch a program to encourage people to save water.

In the long run, silted-up reservoirs in the region need to be dredged and equipped with modern self-clearing facilities, he said.

WRA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Sheng-yen (謝勝彥) has warned that Zengwun Reservoir (曾文水庫) in Chiayi County “is slowly drying up” because of mudslides and landslides in its catchment area, as well as being inundated with huge amounts of driftwood after Typhoon Morakot in August.

WRA Director-General Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) said the reservoir’s water storage capacity was only 40 percent of its capacity and that the capacity declined greatly after Morakot.

Coin dispute: Ma's office tells media to go ask the bank
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009, Page 3

The Presidential Office yesterday denied that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had reneged on his promise to issue memorial coins in commemoration of democracy trailblazer Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水).

Paul Chang (張國葆), acting director-general of the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs, said Ma wrote Chiang's family a letter asking for their consent to use the image of the democracy pioneer after the central bank informed Ma of its plan to issue memorial coins in honor of the president and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) after they were elected last year.

“The president thought it would be a better idea to consider using the image of those who contributed to Taiwan's democratic development,” Chang said.

In September last year, Ma praised Chiang as “a great man of Taiwan,” saying that studying the life and times of Chiang was a good way to promote Taiwanese identity.

Chiang, who founded the nation's first political party, the Taiwan People's Party (台灣民眾黨), formed the Taiwan Culture Association (台灣文化協會) with a group of intellectuals in October 1921.

Its aim was to awaken Taiwanese consciousness through cultural enlightenment. Chiang was imprisoned more than 10 times for defying orders from the Japanese regime. He died of typhoid in 1931, at the age of 40.

Chang yesterday said the central bank told the president that it would “solicit public opinion” about Ma's proposal and deal with the matter “in accordance with the law and regulations.”

Once the procedure is completed, it will send the recommendation to the Executive Yuan for approval, Chang said.

Chang made the remarks in response to reporters' questions about a report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) yesterday.

The report said the Chiang family was upset and felt they had been deceived because while they had agreed to Ma's proposal to use Chiang's portrait for the coins about one-and-a-half years ago, the matter was still unresolved.

Chang said the media should ask the central bank when it planned to present the proposal to the Executive Yuan, adding that he believed it would come sooner or later.

Chang said Ma only made the recommendation and that the president would respect the central bank's decision.

Ma encounters protest at Longshan Temple
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009, Page 3
　

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was heckled in Taipei's Wanhua District (萬華) yesterday when he attended a ceremony marking the 270th anniversary of the establishment of Longshan Temple (龍山寺).

About 30 protesters shouted “Ma Ying-gao, step down” (gao means “dog” in Taiwanese) outside the temple. The temple was closed yesterday morning because of Ma's visit. While the president left at around 11am, the temple was not open to the public until 1:30pm.

Ma visited the temple to attend the ceremony marking the 270th anniversary of the temple's construction and the completion of the renovation of the temple's Tung Pao Hall (通寶殿) and its bell and drum towers.

Built in 1738, Longshan Temple was designated as a second-class national historic heritage site in 1985. An earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, destroyed some of the stone pillars of the Tung Pao Hall, while some of the hall's wooden structure had rotted over time.

The “921 Earthquake” and the earthquake on March 31, 2002, also dealt a blow to the temple's bell and drum towers.

The temple was placed under tight security yesterday, with law enforcement officers forming a human chain to block the entrances.

An old married couple from Taoyuan said the temple manager told them that they had posted the announcement that the temple would be closed about a month ago, but they had no way of knowing because they lived in Taoyuan.

The temple manager told them the information was also available online, but they said they did not know how to use a computer.

Ma, who spent his childhood in Wanhua District, said Longshan Temple has been the center of religious worship since he was little. The temple has become one of the city's world-renowned landmarks, which include Taipei 101, the National Palace Museum and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, he said.

During his tenure as Taipei mayor, Ma said the city decided to open a Mass Rapid Transit System station at Longshan Temple, hoping to blend the old and new.

The city hoped the temple would continue to bless the region and ensure its prosperity, he said.

Ma meets outgoing Japanese representative
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009, Page 3
　

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday met Japanese Representative to Taiwan Masaki Saito, who resigned recently following a controversy over his remarks that Taiwan's status was undetermined.

Saito, who resigned earlier this month, is scheduled to leave office on Sunday.

The Ma administration had shut Saito out of high-level political contact since he said Taiwan's status had remained undefined since Japan relinquished its control of the island following its defeat in World War II.

Saito made the comment while attending the annual meeting of the Republic of China International Relations Association just days after Ma had said the 1952 Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (also known as the Treaty of Taipei) affirmed the transfer of Taiwan's sovereignty from Japan to the Republic of China, the official title of the country.

Saito apologized for his remark after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a protest. He said he had been expressing his personal view and his comment did not reflect the position of the Japanese government.

Yesterday marked the second official meeting between Ma and Saito since the controversial remark in May.

Ma yesterday said the past one-and-a-half years under Saito's tenure was a period when relations between Taipei and Tokyo enjoyed their fastest growth.

“Some might feel strange, but it is part of the 'flexible diplomatic policy' put forth before we took office,” he said.

Taiwan and Japan go back a long way and have maintained good relations since World War II, he said.

“Of course because of mainland China, there have been many twists and turns in our relationship,” he said.

Now that relations between Taipei and Beijing have improved, Ma said the “twists and turns” no longer serve as a “serious hindrance.”

Ma talked about the progress in relations with Tokyo since he took office, including the opening of a branch office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sapporo, the implementation of a “working holiday” program for young adults aged between 18 and 30 and the start of direct flights between Taipei International Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport next October.

Tokyo has also corrected the nation's description on its alien resident certificates and other related documents from “China” to “Taiwan,” Ma said, and fishing negotiations have been going smoothly.

Saito said the past one-and-a-half years were short, but he was “satisfied” with the results of his work. He said he hoped his successor would develop a new relationship in the new year.

Ma also met former Yokohama Mayor Hiroshi Nakada at the Presidential Office yesterday.

Ma described Nakada as “the best friend of Taiwan” and said Taipei and Tokyo had developed “closer and friendlier” relations.

Ma said he hoped to strengthen “contacts” with the new Japanese government, which he said has adopted a new diplomatic strategy.

He hoped the “reinforced contacts” would help advance bilateral ties.

Major flooding to become more common in Taiwan

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009, Page 4

Like many countries, Taiwan’s sea levels have risen steadily as a result of global warming and measures need to be taken to combat the increased threat of flooding, environmental scientists said on Sunday.

The sea level around Taiwan has risen by an average of 3cm over the past 10 years, said Fan Kuang-lung (范光龍), a professor at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) Institute of Oceanography.

Fan, who led an NTU research team in studying tidal changes along the coasts of Keelung, Yilan, Taitung and Kaohsiung between 1991 and 2001, said global warming and human behavior, particularly on the west coast, were leaving Taiwan increasingly vulnerable to climate change.

“Flooding will become the norm in some western tidal land areas,” Fan said.

He said that when typhoons strike, inundation water caused by flash floods will have difficulty flowing out to sea because the sea’s level will be higher than the river’s level.

Floods could be exacerbated if seawaters inundate the areas as well, Fan said.

Human behavior is only complicating the problem, the scientist said. Many households along the west coast regularly pump underground water for farming or everyday use, gradually causing the ground to subside below sea level.

When seawater floods in, Fan said, it will not be able to flow back out, and consequently will accumulate in low-lying areas, causing severe floods and property damage.

Liu Shaw-chen (劉紹臣), a researcher and director at Academia Sinica’s Research Center for Environmental Changes, said global warming, caused by increased carbon dioxide emissions, was causing the polar ice caps to melt at a pace faster than formerly estimated.

He cited the latest report by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), which forecast that if Greenland’s entire ice cap melts down, the Earth’s sea levels will rise by an average of between 4m and 5m, and if the entire Antarctic Pole melts down, the world’s sea levels will rise by an apocalyptic 70m, although the Colorado-Based National Snow and Ice Data Center does not expect either area to melt completely.

The SCAR report predicted that if global warming continues at its current pace, South Pole ice will melt at an accelerated clip and sea levels will rise 1.4m by 2100.

The estimate far exceeds the 18cm to 43cm rise predicted by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Liu said.

“It is already too late to save Tuvalu, even if the world’s nations step up reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions now,” Liu said. “Tuvalu will be completely submerged in 20 to 30 years.”

His prediction is based on the argument that carbon dioxide, the main culprit in global warming, remains in the atmosphere for 80 years and that the carbon dioxide layers that are impacting the Earth’s temperatures today have been accumulated over the past eight decades.

Liu said Taiwan is not threatened by total submersion, but he predicted flooding would become an increasingly normal phenomenon.

Noting that precipitation in Taiwan will increase 1.4 times for every 1°C rise in global temperatures, he urged the government and the public not to relent in its flood prevention efforts.

Bad intent at Copenhagen
　

Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009, Page 8

This month 98 world leaders, 15,000 delegates and officials and 5,000 journalists are attending the 15th UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Because many participants are members of the government elite, they cannot resist the luxury to which they are accustomed: Denmark’s biggest limousine company is so overbooked that they need to have limousines driven in from Sweden and Germany, while only five hybrid and electric vehicles have been ordered for those genuinely concerned about the environment and climate change.

The Copenhagen airport also expects 140 private jets to arrive during the peak period of the two-week conference, which means the planes will need to be parked at regional airports or even in neighboring Sweden. As a result, people are beginning to wonder how concerned these decision makers really are about tackling climate change if they can’t even control their own emissions.

Meanwhile, e-mails have been leaked from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit containing data provided to the Met Office, the British meteorological authority, showing a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years. The Met Office is a significant contributor to the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their data is therefore intended to provide 188 countries with evidence proving that the Earth is getting hotter.

However, the e-mails showed that the data was manipulated to hide declines in temperatures. Moreover, scientists at the university admitted throwing away much of the original data and keeping only the revised data. While the Met Office has promised to reexamine the data, which could take three years, it still insists that the past decade has been the warmest on record, with this year being the fifth-hottest.

Elsewhere, a secret draft agreement concocted by a group of individuals known as “the circle of commitment” has also been leaked.

This group is supposed to include the UK, the US and Denmark. The leaked draft is better known as the “Danish text”; it intends to hand more power to rich nations, while sidelining the UN’s negotiating role and abandoning the Kyoto Protocol.

According to the text, people in rich countries would be permitted to emit almost twice as much as those in poor countries.

The draft hands effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank and would make poor countries dependent on that organization as it provides them with money to help them adapt to climate change.

As a result, the chief negotiator for 130 developing countries, Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aiping, walked out in anger, while other leaders of developing countries also became furious.

Will Nobel Peace Prize recipient US President Barack Obama save the day when he arrives this week? Considering that the US is a member of “the circle of commitment,” one may have to agree with Di-Aiping that the conference will probably be wrecked by the bad intentions of certain people.

ALEX RAYMOND
Kaohsiung