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President silenced at project protest
TURNING THE TABLES: Ma Ying-jeou said he
regretted not being able to go on stage at a protest to which he had been
invited to tell demonstrators his thoughts
By Ko Shu-ling / Staff Reporter
A woman points an accusing finger at
President Ma Ying-jeou, left, at a demonstration organized by opponents of the
proposed Kuokuang Petrochemical Plant in Changhua County yesterday, after Ma
declined to sign a pledge to oppose the project.
Photo: Juan I-yu, Taipei Times
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was shouted
down in Changhua County yesterday while attending a protest he had been invited
to over the planned construction of a controversial petrochemical complex.
Before Ma was ready to address the crowd over the Kuokuang Petrochemical
Technology Co (國光石化科技) project, some protesters asked him to sign a letter
promising he would express opposition to the project, but the president refused
to do so.
Ma’s refusal angered the protesters, who barred him from delivering the speech
with repeated chants demanding that he “step down” and asked that he remain
seated.
LISTENING
He told a provisional press conference after the event that he was there to
listen to the voices of local residents and that he regretted that he could not
go on stage to tell the participants what he thought.
Public opinion would serve as an important reference for his administration’s
future decision on whether to build the plant, he said.
It would be an “important” and “key” part of his administration’s decision on
the matter, Ma said, adding that he would also ask the Environmental Protection
Administration to strengthen environmental controls and regulate particulate
matter produced by petrochemical plants.
Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology is an affiliate of state-run oil refiner CPC
Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), which is seeking to expand oil-refining capacity and
production of chemicals such as ethylene.
The government argues the capacity is needed to keep the nation competitive in
the petrochemical sector in the face of stiff competition from Japan, South
Korea and Singapore.
Environmentalists believe the complex will create losses that outweigh its
economic benefits, including damaging the local agricultural sector and the
Dacheng Wetlands (大城濕地), where the complex would be located, while putting the
health of local residents at risk.
DPP APPEARANCES
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopefuls Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and
Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) also made rare appearances together, arriving within 10
minutes of each other, at the gathering against the plant, a facility both vowed
to stop if elected.
The two frontrunners for the DPP nominations have been dodging each other on the
campaign trial and the anti-petrochemical plant protest is one of the few events
for which both have appeared, signaling strong opposition to the facility.
In addition to Ma, Tsai and Su had been invited by environmental and medical
groups that say the NT$600 billion (US$20.5 billion) project could lead to local
health concerns and damage sensitive coastal wetlands.
“With both Ma and Su here today, it shows just how important this petrochemical
issue has become. Everybody cares about Taiwan’s future,” Tsai said.
However, Tsai and Su separately said they were disappointed to learn that Ma had
failed to sign a statement to promise to phase out expansion of the industry and
press for stricter air quality regulations. Both the DPP candidates signed the
pledge.
In her address, Tsai said the planned project was “not a solution for us now”
and would not be “a solution for us in the future.”
She added that now was a time for the country to reconsider its industrial
policies.
Su acknowledged the DPP had pushed the construction of the complex when it was
in power between 2000 and 2008.
At the time, however, the DPP government chose to build the complex in
neighboring Yunlin County to the south, rather than in the Changhua County
wetlands, he said.
It was not known if Ma’s decision to attend the rally meant the government had
changed its mind on the project.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Huang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said the environmental
impact of the project was being reviewed by a panel of experts, but the
government did not plan to move it overseas, the United Daily News reported
yesterday.
CPC expects the environmental review to be finished by May.Though some
shareholders have said they could no longer wait and wanted to move it overseas,
CPC, which has a 43 percent stake in the project, wants to make the investment
domestically.
Some officials said in private that the project could “die,” judging from the
current political atmosphere in Taiwan.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND CNA, WITH STAFF WRITER
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