A major breakthrough in the fourth phase of the Central Taiwan Science Park: the broken Suangliao can never go back
Editor's note:
Since the Central Taiwan Science Park Phase 4 (CTSP Phase 4) was proposed for development in 2008, it has been mired in controversy. From the outset, the development faced unfavorable conditions such as a poor site selection, insufficient water sources and an ailing industry, and it has also sparked major disputes over wastewater discharge, land expropriation and water diversion works. Chu Ching-yi, minister of the National Science Council, said in a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan on 3/12 that the future direction of the park would be readjusted. But more than three years of construction work has already caused serious damage; how could a single phrase, "reexamination," erase it all? On the other hand, local elected representatives have also protested, saying that investment has already been made and development cannot be halted. After a series of wrong decisions, the problems of CTSP Phase 4 are clearly not over yet.
This article is reprinted from a report by veteran journalist munch on the predicament now faced by the Xiangsihliao settlement, which received an administrative promise of "preservation in place" from then-premier Wu Den-yih after the Dapu incident erupted in 2010.
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After a dazzling lie collapses, how many people can it hurt?
CTSP Phase 4 has declared the collapse of AU Optronics' planned entry, like an inflated storm that suddenly disperses, leaving broken ground behind. To this day, farmers in Xizhou are still fighting endlessly to protect their water, but the beautiful Xiangsihliao has long been battered into fragments.
After the great collapse of CTSP Phase 4, what pains people most is none other than the ruined Xiangsihliao, like an ironic political and economic monument, inscribing the government's absurdity and brutality.
On Sunday, after going to Lukang to congratulate Yueh-ying on her wedding, I thought of going back to Xiangsihliao to take a look.
The whole way was a lush green agricultural area, but once inside the land enclosed for CTSP Phase 4, it became a gray and alien world. Arriving near Xiangsihliao, I looked at the construction notice board, which read "encourage local industrial transformation and persuade high-tech manufacturers to invest locally," and suddenly found it immensely ironic. A huge CTSP Phase 4 construction site, broken up by development, now no one even knows what is supposed to go into it. The whole development case remains endlessly absurd, like a fraudulent company spinning a grand vision, expropriating land, forcing people from their homes, leaving misery everywhere, and only in the end admitting it was all a scam.
But after the scam, they still do not admit fault, and continue development, even using industrial transformation to find manufacturers to stuff into the industrial park.
Professor Hsu Shih-jung was right. The CTSP Phase 4 development case was based on AU Optronics setting up a factory there. Now that this has changed, its foundation is completely destroyed, and CTSP Phase 4 has utterly lost its reason for development.
But the nonsense dream of big investment had long since pushed CTSP Phase 4 into development. After years of resistance, Xiangsihliao suffered the most. Even though the lie has now been exposed, the damage was long ago done. Broken Xiangsihliao can never go back!
The entrance to Xiangsihliao on Taiping Road, once shaded by green bamboo groves, was long ago demolished by CTSP and is being prepared for widening into a road more than 20 m across. Of the original tunnel of beefwood trees along the road, only a small row remains amid the construction site, and in all likelihood it too will soon fall.
Inside the settlement, the houses of some residents who moved out were quickly demolished, as if to prevent anyone from changing their mind and moving back in. Even for scattered households such as those on Nongchang Lane, who considered relocating together to live in Xiangsihliao, there was not the slightest chance.
Uncle Shucai and his wife were on the large courtyard sorting freshly picked garlic, the two working intently, just as hardworking as ever. Going in to chat with Uncle Shucai, he said only five households remain in Xiangsihliao, many people have moved out, it is no longer as lively as before, and the whole surrounding environment is under construction, boom boom, very noisy!
Aunt Shucai underwent major surgery last year. Her heart had problems, and flesh was taken from her thigh to patch it, leaving a long scar on her chest that is frightening to see. After years of resistance, the elderly of Xiangsihliao have almost all been dragging their old lives along to fight, rushing north for protests and back in a single day, standing on the streets even in wind and rain. For several years, bodies in their seventies and eighties have been pushed as if they were in their twenties or thirties. CTSP Phase 4 never dies, but the old people's bodies have collapsed from exhaustion!
Uncle Shucai said that after the farmland was consolidated near the settlement, the farmland strangely does not connect to the main road, but is instead separated by a 6 m park road, so the entire farmland is enclosed by the park. He worries that if CTSP later turns hostile and does not allow passage on the park road, there will be no way at all to transport the harvest from the farmland. He does not understand why the farmland was not allowed to connect to the road.
After walking to the farmland behind the settlement and looking at it, I felt puzzled. The reconstructed farmland was all filled with sandy soil, not at all like fertile field soil. I asked Uncle Shucai whether such soil could grow crops. Uncle Shucai said CTSP said it would distribute fertilizer to improve the soil. I thought to myself, the original farmland had been tended for decades, and fertile soil produced good crops. Now this barren soil is simply tormenting the farmers.
Even more ironic, I asked Uncle Shucai whether any water channels had been kept. Uncle Shucai said he did not know, but CTSP hinted that wells could be drilled. Hearing this made me angry. The original farm had irrigation channels, but the construction of the industrial park completely destroyed them. To bring in large amounts of water, water is seized from far away in Xizhou for industrial use, yet the farmers of Xiangsihliao get none of it and have to drill their own wells.
Only after seeing the roads and the water channels did I understand that behind preservation in place and farmland consolidation, there still lurk petty moves to destroy farming. There is simply no intention to maintain Xiangsihliao's agricultural tradition. All the planning is just for show for outsiders.
Before long, I saw Aunt Anuan passing by on a small scooter, loaded with harvested crops, still busy with farm life as usual.
When we met, Aunt Anuan asked why so many people had come that day, and what was this talk of fighting for development? I told Aunt Anuan that AU Optronics might not come, and that those people had come because CTSP wanted to bring in another industry, though no one knew then what industry would move in. Aunt Anuan was somewhat worried, repeatedly saying, "If they are not doing electronics, then what are they coming for?" No one knows the answer to Aunt Anuan's question. An industrial park developed on lies, after its collapse, actually just wants to find manufacturers to fill it, perhaps even highly polluting industries, and to this day there is no repentance at all.
After the storm, Xiangsihliao still cannot find peace, like a violent and mistaken major operation, with endless torment even during recovery.
Uncle Shucai was very polite. A pile of questions stuck in his heart, yet he feared causing trouble for everyone and was too embarrassed to speak up, repeatedly saying, "Everyone has helped a lot, sorry to trouble you again!"
Trouble! The government owes Xiangsihliao. A group of kind elderly people, once living a stable rural life, had everything destroyed by a lying CTSP. Now the lie is exposed, yet there is still no admission of fault, and petty moves continue in Xiangsihliao.
Xiangsihliao has changed. It is no longer surrounded by green shade as before. The beautiful Xiangsihliao of the past truly can never go back!
After the collapse of CTSP Phase 4, what the government owes most is an apology to the old farmers of Xiangsihliao! They suffered the fiercest persecution and the deepest destruction, and even now they still worry about the future!
The tragedy of Xiangsihliao should be taken as a warning! The science park development that was first announced to the world on the basis of AU Optronics moving in, and pushed through review all the way, must be fully halted and reassessed after AU Optronics' investment changed. There is no rationale for continuing development and then recruiting manufacturers to fill it. Moreover, any future hyped development must be strictly reviewed. Once the boast is burst and lies are told, it cannot be settled with just a report. When land is harmed and people are harmed, someone must be held responsible. No more natural rural villages that can never go back should be allowed.
Broken Xiangsihliao pains the heart. A dazzling lie hurts people so deeply!
(The original text is reprinted from the author's blog.)