Taiwan Business Icons Unite to Stop Highway

Taiwan Business Icons Unite to Stop Highway



March 2007 - Influential people in 
Taiwan's cultural arts circles and business communities have 
joined forces to oppose what they call the government’s 
"myopic" plans for constructing the Su-Hua Highway on the 
island's undeveloped east coast. 
Documentary director Chen Jin-fa addressed a large group of 
media on March 7 with the question, "How much land does Taiwan 
have left to save?" 
During the press conference, Yan Chang-shou, CEO of the Landis 
Group of Hotels, called on influential figures in the cultural 
arts industry to stand united against the Su-Hua Highway. 
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre founder Lin Huai-min, aboriginal 
musician Hu De-fu, and film director Hou Hsiao-shian are among 
those raising their voices against the proposed highway. 
If constructed, critics say the highway would undermine the 
pristine sightseeing destinations and creative development of 
cultural heritage sites in the Hualien and Taitung region by 
opening up the area to floods of weekend tourists. 
The approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) between the town of 
Suao in the north and the city of Hualien is a strip of land 
with its back to the Central Mountain Range and its face to 
the Pacific Ocean. 
The road from Suao to Hualien is notched into the cliffs along 
Taiwan's east coast. 
The present highway is narrow, winding and perilous, with a 
steep drop-off on one side and the constant threat of falling 
rocks and landslides on the other that is closed by landslides 
after earthquakes and by waterfalls during typhoons. 
Taiwan's Public Construction Commission Chairman Wu Tze-cheng 
in February called for the public to support the proposed 
highway. 
This issue has turned the region into a fierce battleground 
for the 2008 presidential election. 
Based on environmental analysis survey findings, the 
Environmental Protection Administration, EPA, plans to convene 
another Su-Hua Highway environmental impact gap analysis 
meeting in late March. 
The highway opponents say it is essential at this critical 
conjecture for friends who are concerned about Taiwan to put 
pressure on the government to stop the highway. It is 
particularly important for opposition political parties 
conducting governmental oversight to stand up and shoulder 
their responsibility, they said. 
Yan said that these friends will form a Clean Hua-Tung 
Construction Volunteer Organization, presenting the government 
with a report on the unique Hualian and Taitung County 
features and resolutions for reference with the goal of 
halting plans for the highway construction. 
These efforts will continue intensifying full force throughout 
the 2008 presidential election campaign. 
Yan said that opposition means more than just halting the 
construction of the Su-Hua Highway. It will also significantly 
benefit the people of Hualien and Taitung region, he said, 
"allowing them to actualize more sustainable futures by 
allowing the world to see Taiwan’s unique qualities from a 
global perspective." 
Construction of the Su-Hua Highway merely will function as a 
route for weekend and holiday traffic flow, he said, while it 
will remain virtually deserted during other periods. 
The construction engineering companies and the cement industry 
will be the ones reaping the greatest benefit, said Yan. 
Taiwan's pristine east coast near Suao. 
Yan explained that there are many ways of resolving the 
Hua-Tung traffic problems, "It’s just a matter of whether or 
not the government is willing to take action." 
Cloud Gate Dance Theater's Lin, does not want to see Hua-Tung 
become another Jiaoshi or Lushan. He says that 
over-development has already tarnished many parts of Taiwan’s 
natural beauty and splendor. 
"Hualien and Taitung counties offer us the freedom of space 
far removed from Taiwan’s heavily developed western coast," 
said Lin. "If the Su-Hua Highway is built, it will destroy the 
natural environment and further uproot the soul of our 
homeland." 
"One day we won’t be able to find the door to our homes, we 
will once again roam homeless on this land," said Hu, the 
long-time social activist and aboriginal musician. From an 
indigenous person’s identity he appeals to the government to 
stop the Su-Hua highway construction, warning that it will 
"shatter our homeland." 
Hu said that many years have passed since the idea of building 
the Su-Hua Highway first arose, but the proposed tourism 
development plans have never been carried out. He said that 
the highway construction money could be better used by the 
local communities, for purposes including better education for 
aboriginal children. 
Others who have signed the petition to stop construction of 
the Su-Hua Highway include Chunghwa Telecom Foundation 
President Hsu Lu, ASUSTek Computer Vice-President Tong 
Zi-hsien, Magis Networks Inc. Chairperson Ke Wen-chang, The 
Society of Wilderness President LE Wei-wen, the writer Long 
Ying-tai, Chunghwa Telecom Chairman He Chen-dan, Hsin-Kong 
Foundation Founder and Chairperson Chen Jin-huang, and the 
Paper Wind Mill Foundation Director Li Yung-feng. 
These influential figures concerned about the Hua-Tung Highway 
issue have also set up online petitions - "Hualien County Mass 
Transit Development," "Revival of the Hualian County 
Coastline," and "Hualien County Community Cultural Sites 
Development." These are relevant issues that further support 
and put pressure on the government to stop construction of the 
Su-Hua Highway. 





 

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