They regard it as a public relations gesture to comfort elites and mass publics,
while the firms continue to degrade the environment of the countries in which
they do business.^35
We present four cases of vertical diffusion from multinational corporations
in China and Taiwan. The first case concerns a petrochemical complex in
southern Taiwan with significant foreign investment; the second treats a
proposal by Bayer to locate a petrochemical facility in central Taiwan. Both
reflect negative aspects of diffusion but with some positive outcomes for
environmentalism. The third and fourth examples are of Shell and EDAW,
both operating in mainland China, and they are broadly positive.
Taiwan’s Lin Yuan Industrial Zone
Petrochemicals were one of the pivots of Taiwan’s export industrialization
strategy in the 1970s and 1980s. The national government facilitated industrial
growth through the establishment of industrial zones. This provided a
convenient network of transportation routes and facilities, sewage and water
treatment systems, and public utilities. One such complex was established for
petrochemical development in Kaohsiung County, and by the late 1970s some
18 companies had begun operations there. The firms included large domestic
companies, for example, Formosa Plastics and TSMC, as well as joint
ventures of multinationals such as Samsung, Bayer, and the China American
Petrochemical Corporation (CAPCO), with a 50 percent investment by British
Petroleum (BP).
Both local and national government turned a blind eye to the management
of operations at the Lin Yuan complex. At this time, the petrochemical industry
contributed 20–30 percent of Taiwan’s GDP, and thousands of downstream
manufacturers depended on its products.^36 For example, CAPCO produced
purified terephthalic acid, a primary ingredient in chemical fibers and also
polyester bottles and film. The complex as a whole generated about three-
quarters of the raw materials used in Taiwan’s chemical industry.^37
For the decade before 1988, a number of accidents in production process
and waste treatment at the Lin Yuan complex polluted the Kaohsiung coast
with industrial waste and petrochemical effluents. This destroyed marine
species in the coastal zone and polluted fish ponds; it ruined the coastal fishery
for residents. Complaints to and negotiations with industrial zone managers
did not rectify the damages. Local officials and especially the DPP magistrate
of Kaohsiung County, Yu Chen Yu-ying, organized residents and mobilized
grass roots resistance. The opposition movement organized a large
demonstration at the complex in October 1988. An estimated 20000 protesters
laid siege at the site, forcing the closure of two naptha crackers for four days
- at a cost of NT$200 million in lost sales.^38
144 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan