Taiwan tussles disrupt nuke vote
Print Edition
Lawmakers in Taiwan exchanged punches and threw water at each other yesterday ahead of a vote that was expected to authorize a referendum on whether to finish building a fourth power plant on the densely populated island of 23 million people.
Nuclear power has long been a contentious issue in Taiwan and became more so following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. While frequent earthquakes have led many Taiwanese to conclude that nuclear power generation constitutes an unacceptable safety risk, economic analyses suggest disruptive power shortages are inevitable if the fourth plant is not completed.
Yesterday’s fracas pitted the pro-referendum forces of Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou’s ruling Koumintang Party against anti-nuclear forces affiliated with the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
DPP lawmakers occupied the legislative podium late on Thursday night amid vows to disrupt the referendum vote, tentatively scheduled for noon yesterday. With a large Koumintang majority in the 113-seat legislature, the referendum bill had been expected to pass easily.
The vote was likely to be postponed to next week after the fighting, the DPP said.
Construction of the plant began in 1997 but was halted while the DPP was in power between 2000 and 2008. If the referendum is passed it could become operational by 2016.
Physical confrontations broke out early in yesterday’s session. Television footage showed some eight people pushing and shoving in one brawl. Two people scuffled on the floor, while others tried to separate them.
More than a dozen activists chanted and waved signs on a nearby balcony, and several splashed water onto lawmakers below. A few water bottles were thrown into the fray.
Some DPP lawmakers object to the idea of any nuclear referendum at all, while others say the language in the bill needs to be changed as it is prejudicial.
According to the bill under discussion, referendum voters would be asked to vote on whether they agree with the proposition that “the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant should be halted and that it not become operational.”
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