The referendum, which seeks to relocate the project away from an ancient algal reef and would likely delay it for years, has a reasonable chance of passing.
By Sarah Wu TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - Taiwanese voters will decide this Saturday on a new LNG terminal considered key for the chipmaking powerhouse .
By Sarah Wu TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - Taiwanese voters will decide this Saturday on a new LNG terminal considered key for the chipmaking powerhouse .
Cabinet can propose its own LNG referendum
By Chen Wen-ching 陳文卿
The date has been set for a referendum on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project near algal reefs on the coast of Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音).
Although the Cabinet is willing to discuss the project and has adopted some suggestions offered by environmental groups, it is still rejected by other environmental groups.
Few people have a thorough understanding of the project’s ecological, environmental, energy and engineering implications, and rigorous thinking is needed to foresee the effects that either outcome passing or not passing the referendum would have.
The government and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus would not initiate any referendum proposals to counter a referendum on key policy issues that is scheduled to be held in August.
The consensus was reached at a DPP meeting convened by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is also the DPP chairperson, on Sunday, which was attended by officials from the Presidential Office, the Cabinet, the DPP, legislators and mayors, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.
If the DPP or government agencies wanted to introduce any referendum initiatives of their own, they would have to submit their proposals by the end