A Letter to Foreign Friends Who Showed Support for Energy Transition in Taiwan

Dear friends,

Tonight was a total nightmare for progressive politics in Taiwan. We lost everything we believed; both the anti-LGBTQ rights referendums and the anti-energy transition referendum are passed.

At this darkest hour of Taiwan’s fragile democracy, I still wish to thank you all for showing solidarity with the people in Taiwan who believed in a renewable future previously. I am very glad that I am actually in Germany right now; with all the social support and rise of climate awareness occurring over here, I am already more fortunate than many others in Taiwan.

Frankly speaking, all three operating nuclear power plants in Taiwan would face serious legal and safety issues if their lifespan were to be extended, and it would take a miracle to finish NPP 4. I don’t really think these power plants can be used beyond 2025, whether an explicit legal ban exists or not.

The most worrying part of this referendum is actually how solar and wind were demonized during the campaign, and how some newly elected local governors are promising that they would restrict further renewable development projects inside their counties. This is a very danger sign that might lead to a stagnation in energy transition, as happened in previous Portugal, Spain, and current Ontario.

Of course, the fact that the majority of Taiwanese people actually accept a discriminatory marriage law and reject proper gender equality education is also terrifying. People from the LGBTQ community are the ones who suffer most from this blow.

24th of November 2018 will be remembered infamously in Taiwan’s history as the day when reactionary forces from all parts of society stroke back. But we will not lose faith, and we cannot.

More than ever should we stand stronger with the LGBTQ community, the indigenous communities who suffered from improper nuclear waste disposal, the local communities living near the NPPs whose only wish is to see those plants finally shut down, and also the local communities near industrial factories or coal power plants who suffer from another type of lethal environment pollution.

We must stand with them and face the struggle together, because solidarity and mutual support is the only solution to such hatred and discrimination towards these communities.

And we shall wait for the day sunrise reclaim the island again. It might take years, it might take decades, but we will continue our work until we build a just and sustainable island.

Before that happens, I will still be with some of you in Germany’s own struggle to ditch fossil fuel.

Best regards,
Tony