[3095] Amid dire challenges, PCT lives out the Great Commission in Taiwan through creation care

Written by Lydia Ma

“Stop Provincial Highway 26! Save Taiwan’s remaining natural coastline!” was the cry of Pingtung Environmental Protection Union (PEPU) members during their presentation on June 22, 2011 as they raised awareness on the plight to preserve Alangyi Trail in Pingtung County.

This 8km long ancient trail was established in the 1870s for Indigenous tribes to travel along the coast and is Taiwan’s remaining natural coastline. But this will soon change if government plans to finish a highway network that traverses southern Taiwan aren’t halted. Stopping this highway network from entering Alangyi Trail – also dubbed “Nuclear Wastes Expressway” because of two nuclear waste facilities built just off of it – is essential to preserving this unique world-class ecological corridor, with abundant and diverse species found within it.

For PEPU, this presentation was also aimed at educating the public and spreading the word that they needed more signatures for their petition. At least 100,000 signatures must be gathered before July 24, 2011 to preserve the Alangyi Ancient Trail – the deadline for being designated a “temporary nature reserve” by the Pingtung County Government according to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act.

So far, only 38,000 people have signed the petition, PEPU said, aware of the great tasks ahead in the remaining days before the deadline. To raise awareness on the urgency of this issue and what is at stake, PCT East Paiwan and Paiwan presbyteries have spearheaded anti-nuclear power and anti-nuclear waste rallies in the past few weeks

PCT celebrates the halt of construction for Kuokuang petrochemical plant in Changhua

Just as PCT members in southern Taiwan hoped for a miracle breakthrough in awakening government authorities and the public on the repercussions of national environmental policies, residents in Changhua celebrated and thanked God for hearing their prayers and protecting them from harm and from an unwanted naphtha cracker complex.

A prayer meeting called “Lift my eyes to the mountain prayer movement in Wangkung” was hosted by Changhua Presbytery to gather Christians to thank God for President Ma’s announcement opposing construction of the proposed Kuokuang Petrochemical naphtha cracker complex.

PCT Associate General Secretary Lyim Hong-tiong said creation care had always been a part of the Christian faith. “Opposing Kuokuang complex was an important issue that local churches, presbyteries, and the General Assembly took seriously and worked together to raise awareness,” he said, adding that it’s citizens’ responsibility to point out the government policy errors and national leaders ought to repent when their mistakes are pointed out.

“The emphasis of this “Lift my eyes to the mountain prayer movement” is repentance. The government has repented of its agreement to build a naphtha cracker complex, but much work remains on this road to repentance, including changes in policies such as East Coast Development Bill, Aboriginal Basic Law, and the rebuilding of Nuclear Power Plant No.4,” said Lyim.

Though this controversial proposal involving Kuokuang Petrochemical has been shelved for now, there is concern that the President didn’t elaborate on how the government would safeguard the domestic petrochemical industry without this complex and whether there is a replacement plan, giving rise to speculations that President Ma’s announcement was made due to re-election considerations.