The Environmental Movement in Taiwan

Taiwan's recent history is notable for its "Economic Miracle," in which the country rapidly industrialized and modernized at an almost unbelievable rate. Such a quick transition to modernity would naturally cause changes that ripple throughout society.

One of these changes was an increase in environmental pollution. Before the lifting of martial law, Taiwan had been rapidly industrializing (Simona Grano). This industrialization increased post-martial law and, due to few regulations, Taiwan's environment suffered.

Taiwan was under one of the longest continuous periods of martial law of any country in the world. This period lasted for 38 years, from 1949 to 1987. It began when the government and military of the Republic of China lost the Chinese Civil War against the Communist Party and were forced to flee across the Taiwan strait to the island. Some also flew to Taiwan from the south of China.

After protests and some civil unrest that partly stemmed from the nationalist government (Kuomintang)'s treatment of indigenous Taiwanese, martial law was declared, then lifted, then declared again and not lifted until July 1987.

Taiwan's democratization movement was largely grassroots and centered on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). This party had its foundation in anti-Kuomintang sentiment that stemmed from the brutal treatment of civilians, particularly ethnic minorities. during the martial law period.

Democratization and environmental protection were tied at the hip at the beginning. Political scientist Simona Grano writes, "At the onset, the party chose environmental protection as one of its main tenets and political platforms and was thus able to win sympathies among environmental activists, who became supporters of the party; these two groups came together in light of their common opposition to the KMT one-party rule."

However, this did not last. "When the DPP was first elected at the national level and a DPP president, Chen Shui-Bian, ruled over Taiwan, many of its previous pro-environmental pledges quickly came to be forgotten in the midst of more pressing concerns, such as creating jobs and further developing the economy." (Grano) This development of the economy was not done to the standards of environmentalists, creating a slew of ecological problems in Taiwan. and making the problems that already existed worse.

Taiwan is a country that has many different environmental issues, and many different causes for those issues. Some environmental issues in Taiwan are water pollution, smog, acid rain and emission of greenhouse gases. Many of these issues have effects beyond the borders of the country. Taiwan is an island in the South China Sea, a large body of water that stretches from the coast of China in the north to the Indonesian archipelago in the south, and from Vietnam and Cambodia in the west to the Philippines in the east.

One way that Taiwan affects the South China Sea is through the emission of greenhouse gases. These levels rose sharply between the 1980s and the early 2000s. Taiwan's emission of greenhouse gases is partially responsible for the rising levels of the South China Sea, which, in turn, affects Taiwan and the other countries that surround it. The emission of greenhouse gases also causes smog.

Another environmental issue in Taiwan is waste pollution, which spills into bodies of water (Grano). As many of Taiwan's industrial areas are coastal, waste pollution could very easily spill into the South China Sea. An example is the Houjin River. This river, adjacent to Kaohsiung City, contains not only pollution from the city but also waste from the Renwu Industrial Zone upstream (Wen-chan). This river feeds into the South China Sea. A simple Google Maps Streetview shows that the water has a murky, brown tinge to it and is very clearly not clean. The Kaohsiung City government has introduced legislation to curb pollution in the river, however, which is a surprising outlier in Taiwanese environmental history, as a recurring theme seems to be that environmental change only comes from activists (Ming-Sho Ho).

The environmental movement got its start in Taiwan through first opposition to martial law, and then through the wave of discontent that followed democratization (Ming-Sho). Perhaps the most famous success of the environmental movement was the anti-naphtha cracker movement. A naphtha cracker is a natural gas plant that uses steam to break down naphtha, a natural gas. These crackers can be corrosive to the environmental around them, releasing pollution into the air and increasing rates of cancer in surrounding areas (Grano).

There are currently seven naphtha crackers in Taiwan. The Kuokang corporation planned to build an eighth in the late 2000s, but was rebuffed by a protest movement. The cracker would have threatened multiple endangered species as well as caused possible water pollution (Daybreak). The protest was effected for several different reasons. One was the sympathy of the media, which had been growing more and more environmentally conscious over the past decade. Another was the timing of the protests: they happened during election season, so officials were looking for the quickest way to solve the issue in order to keep their support. (Daybreak and Grano). A third was the joining of rural and urban forces during the protest. Celebrities as well as fisherman who would have been affected by the construction of the cracker collaborated together (Grano), breaking the urban-rural divide that had existed in Taiwanese environmental movements for decades (Ming-Sho).

The tactics used by the anti-Kuokang protesters in 2010 were picked up by the Sunflower Student Movement in 2015. This groundbreaking movement was led by students who were upset at what they saw as undemocratic behavior by the KMT. In a sense, the Sunflower movement picked up where environmentalists from the 1980s had left off. Both were movements that were based on anti-KMT sentiment and both used tactics such as employing lawyers, gaining the support of celebrities and social media (Daybreak).

The naphtha crackers are dangerous to human life. In 2019, the sixth naphtha cracker, located in Mailiao, suffered a massive gas explosion. Damage was done to the plant as well as a residential area nearby (Taipei Times).

Taiwan's history with environmental activism is deep and intertwines with its history of brutal martial law followed by democratization. The two, in some way, cannot be separated from each other, as many of the tactics in the democratization movement and the Sunflower movement were also used in the environmental movement. Naphtha crackers are clearly a threat not only to the wildlife and climate of Taiwan but to the Taiwanese people, as well. The South China Sea is also clearly polluted by factory wastes in zones close to rivers that feed into the Sea. Taiwanese environmentalists are right to want better environmental restrictions and I sincerely hope that they continue to use the tactics mentioned here to get them, both for themselves and for the sake of all those who live close to the South China Sea.