Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Nuclear Power Debate: Academics slam referendum question

Taipei Times

The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union yesterday criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) question for a proposed referendum on halting the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, saying the text showed that the party was exploiting the shortcomings of the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to ensure construction continues.

The wording of the proposal, which was unveiled on Thursday, says: “Do you agree that the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be halted and that it not become operational?” (你是否同意核四廠停止興建不得運轉).

Observations on the nuclear debate

Taipei Times Editorial

It is only March, but when Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said a referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), could be postponed until the end of the year, he indicated that the war between pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear activists, as well as between political parties, could last for an entire year.

While that means the public would probably have to endure more mudslinging between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a delay could be a good thing, as the public would have more time to digest information and assess the pros and cons of the issue.

Public must see past nuclear spin

Fang Szu-hung 房思宏

“Over the past few years, a number of academics have advocated deliberative democracy as a way to mitigate, through rational debate within a wider forum, any abuses of populist democracy. However, the emergence of referendums has only driven us further from this democratic ideal. The questions posed in these referendums ask voters, in a necessarily simplistic format, to either support or oppose a proposition, to the exclusion of any nuance, proviso, compromise, or amendment. Such subtleties are consequently not reflected in the participants’ responses.”

The above is not criticism leveled at Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) following his proposal of a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), but a criticism made by Jiang in 2004 of the nationwide consultative referendum proposed by then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and held on March 20 that year.

Pyongyang vows US strike as UN votes on sanctions

Taipei Times

North Korean soldiers attend military training in this picture released by the North’s official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang yesterday.
Photo: Reuters

North Korea yesterday vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the US, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by UN diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

An unidentified spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the North will exercise its right for “a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors” because Washington is pushing to start a nuclear war against Pyongyang.

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