Green Party Helps Neihu Residents Stop Tzu Chi Foundation Construction In Protected Area

Tonight, Li Ying-hsuan, along with Pan han-sheng and Zhang Hong-lin of Taiwan's Green Party attended a Taipei City Council Committee meeting to determine the outcome of the Tzu Chi Foundation's application to build on a part of protected wildlife area in the Neihu district of Taipei.  This application required a rezoning of the land from 'preservation zone' into something called a 'social welfare  special zone'.   The Tzu Chi Foundation was making it's second attempt at building on the land (a previous similar bid failed 10 years previously owing to opposition from Neihu residents and local district chiefs).  During debates on this issue most participants found consensus in the idea that the Tzu Chi Foundation did good work but disagreed about their need to use the five hectares of protected land.

On Thursday 11th November 2010, the committee decided to postpone their decision for one month after a committee meeting in which the Green Party were forced to protest outside the committee room because it was filled with Tzu Chi supporters doing a slow clap to drown out cries of 'procedural irregularities' from Green Party members and Neihu residents.  The Taipei Times ran this report.

Over this last weekend, Tzu Chi held a public meeting in Neihu to win over public support but it later emerged from a Green Party source that only those wearing a Tzu Chi jacket were being allowed to enter and participate.

Today, after a gruelling seven hour meeting (comprising 40-50 Green Party and Neihu residents and 30-40 Tzu Chi representatives and supporters) the council committee went against Green Party expectations that the council would pass the proposal and instead cited two reasons for again delaying the decision:

1. That a new council had just been elected and the new members comprising the new committees would have to deal with it.

2. That the Tzu Chi Foundation did not make enough efforts to reach out to Neihu residents and communicate fully with them about their plans to develop the area.

In practicality, this means that Tzu Chi will now have to refile their application from scratch.  The earliest they can hope to have their application reviewed to the same stage will be at least six months from now.

Green Party Candidate for Neihu and Nangang in the recent council elections, Li Ying-hsuan, described the feelings amongst those working for the protection of the land from development. "Everyone was thanking everyone else and so happy.  We all regard this as a victory for Neihu residents and protection of the environment.  Everyone was telling me "I'll vote for you next time".  I was very touched by their messages of support but I am just glad that we could play a part to help residents," she said.  Despite not being elected in the city council vote on November 27th, Miss Li, a lifelong resident of the area, secured a record amount of votes earning her the return of her electoral commission deposit and boosting the Green Party's visibility and profile in the city.

Despite the Green Party failing to secure a seat on the Taipei or Xinbei Councils, the five candidates standing for election secured the most votes in the party's history and earned the return of four deposits, a breakthrough for the small and young political party that seeks to develop the issue of environmental protection into a significant cleavage in Taiwan's political landscape.    

The response of the Tzu Chi Foundation is unknown at the time of publication.