MOBILIZING TROOPS:The party realizes it will have to do battle, as the government is bent on resolving the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant issue in a referendum
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it plans to organize more than 1,000 anti-nuclear events before June to raise national awareness of the anti-nuclear movement, which would be instrumental in passing a referendum proposed by the government, scheduled to be held later this year.
The events are being organized by DPP members across the country, including by local offices, legislators and local government officials, and they are to be held in various forms, such as outdoor theaters, film screenings, rallies and bicycle rides, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said after the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting.
While the DPP has argued that the government should directly order the suspension of construction of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) amid strong public opposition to the project, Lin said the party realizes that it will likely have to fight a battle as the government is insisting on resolving the controversy in a national referendum.
The party hopes to mobilize at least 10,000 people — a minimum of 100 at each event — so that they can become “seed drill masters” and influence more people by spreading the anti-nuclear message.
Opposition to the power plant has been rising, with 73.8 percent of respondents in the DPP’s most recent survey supporting the suspension of construction, while 14.8 percent supported the completion of the project, Lin said, citing a survey conducted by the party’s Poll Center on Tuesday.
The poll collected 1,031 valid samples and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the New Taipei City Council yesterday passed a resolution demanding that the central government suspend the construction of the power plant, becoming the first local council to make the demand.
The survey and the resolution in New Taipei City, where three nuclear power plants are located, shows that a high degree of consensus has been reached on the issue and that the anti-nuclear movement is now a campaign, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.
As the entire country has been engaged in a heated debate over the use of nuclear energy as a source of electricity, the nation should step up its efforts to save energy, which is of equal importance to abandoning nuclear energy, Su said.
The DPP’s support for “green” energy is clear, Su said, adding that the utilization of solar energy and light-emitting diodes, among other things, are attainable goals.
“It is also important to break Taiwan Power Co’s monopoly of electricity production, distribution and sale,” Su said.