In the second stage of the protest, Legislator Su Huanzhi became the
paramount leader of the movement, and he organized most of the subsequent
protest activities. In October 1996, Su launched the ‘1004 Anti-Binnan
Petitions Campaign’ and mobilized more than 5000 people from Tainan
County to demonstrate on the streets in downtown Taipei. From September to
November 1996, Su arranged about 40 public hearings in Tainan and the Qigu
area in order to increase grassroots support.
The most dramatic event occurred in August 1996, when Su organized
the Nanying Kuxing (Suffering March in Nanying). The event attracted
nation-wide attention and created an unexpected alliance among anti-Binnan
groups and other environmental organizations in Taiwan. On 11 August, 1996,
after a worship ceremony at his Tainan County headquarters, Su shaved his
head bald and began a 100-kilometer march toward the Qigu lagoon area,
which passed 22 townships and villages, in a display of traditional customs
and religious rituals. Anti-fourth nuclear power plant groups from northern
Taiwan joined Su and his followers. The bald-headed Su successfully
combined the moral aspects of environmental protection (portraying himself
as protector of the land) and religious beliefs in a moving appeal to the
grassroots level.
The Binnan project soon became a focus of elections for the Tainan County
magistrate. In October 1997, Su declared he would compete with Chen
Tangshan in the DPP primary. Su blamed Chen for unrelenting DPP and KMT
support for the Binnan project. However, Su lost the primary race because he
was unable to crack Chen’s solid local-level base of support.
The second stage EIA review, at the central level, began in April 1998, with
a new focal point of energy consumption and emissions. Immediately prior to
this review, Su formed an Association of Sustainable Development (ASD) in
the Legislative Yuan, and it became a new subcommittee to promote
environmental protection. The ASD organized a team to observe the Third
Conference of the Parties (COP3) climate change meeting in Kyoto. The ASD
and other anti-Binnan ENGOs characterized the Binnan project as a reflection
of the ‘inconsistent land development policies’ of the central government.
They called on the central government to balance competing economic and
social goals for the small island of Taiwan.
Concerns about the upcoming 2000 presidential elections served to expedite
attempts to complete the EIA process. The KMT-controlled central
government, under pressure from its factions in Tainan County, sought to gain
final approval for the construction of the controversial industrial complex
before the presidential election.^23 Local factions in Tainan threatened to swing
their support to the independent presidential candidate James Soong, instead
of the KMT’s Lien Chan, if the project were stopped,^24 an action that the KMT
wanted to preempt.
Politics and biodiversity conservation 203