They held a press conference to urge the government to go ahead with the project as early as possible for the well-being of people living and working in eastern Taiwan.

The advocates included representatives from the tourism industry, hoteliers’ association, farmer organizations, and the Eastern Taiwan Regional Development Research Society.

They said Stanley Yen, president of the Ritz Landis hotel group, and other environmentalists living in Taipei have no insights about the real needs of people in Hualien area.

People in Hualien presently can only use the old and dangerous provincial highway running on the edge of the cliffs from Hualien to Suao when they travel between Hualien and Taipei, they said.

They suggested that Yen and environmentalists drive their cars through the old highway on a rainy day to personally experience how precarious the travel can be. One of them said Yen would never know the conditions on the ground because he has not made many visits to Hualien and always took airplanes when he did take a eastern-bound trip.

All the people in Hualien want is to have a flat and safe road to move people and farm products. Environmentalists should not apply international standards to the local matters of Hualien, they said.

Members of the Eastern Taiwan Regional Development Research Society said Yen should move the new hotel he plans to build in central Taichung to eastern Hualien if he really cares about the tourism development in eastern Taiwan.

Huang Ji bing, chief secretary at the Hualien County Government, said all people who oppose construction of the eastern expressway should go to Hualien share the “painful daily experiences” with Hualien people. There is no reason to lobby against construction of the project if it passes new environmental impact assessments and adopts the most advanced construction methods that cause the least damage to environment, he said.

People in Hualien said they decided to fight back in the wake of environmentalists’ claims that they will continue opposing the controversial project after President Chen Shui-bian voiced his conditional support for the new freeway that would cut the journey time between Taipei and Hualien to two hours, down from three and a half hours.

Conservation groups said they would take action to block the project as “it will ruin Taiwan’s last clean piece of land,” which houses the island’s sole world-class sightseeing spot — Taroko Gorge.

The highway project conditionally passed an 2000 environmental impact study and obtained construction approval in 2002, but has since been shelved due to procrastination by Chen’s administration and pressure from conservationists, religious and tourism leaders.

Opponents warn that the proposed 86 kilometer-long (52 mile) freeway would cut across a fragile mountainous area in eastern Taiwan and seriously damage the environment.

Yen said the new freeway project now poses a “moral issue” and should not be taken as a “political issue.”

He said people in Taiwan should first try harder to protect the global environment and learn to become “earth citizens” if they want to be “world citizens.”

The government should help people in Hualien conserve and continue their best tourism resources instead of destroying them with a new freeway, of which Taiwan already has too many, Yen said.

Taking the Beiyi freeway connecting Taipei and Yilan as an example, Yen said that the construction of the Hsuehshan Tunnel, which is part of the Beiyi freeway, left Taiwan’s invaluable, millennia-old water resources damaged and the proposed Suhau freeway will intrude into 17 biological sensitive zones. The Beiyi freeway was opened to public traffic last year amid ongoing doubts and disputes over environmental issues.

Responding to Yen’s call for politicians to display greater ethical conscience on the freeway issue, Vice President Annette Lu said the ultimate stance should be centered on environmental protection.

Frank Hsieh, who had served as premier and Kaohsiung mayor, said he agrees with President Chen that it is essential that the Suhua freeway be built provided that it passes environmental analysis review.

Both he and Lu are among the presidential aspirants of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Hsieh suggested that the country seek to follow a “Taiwan Piloting Plan” — a backup plan to develop eastern Taiwan — in case the controversial freeway is not to be constructed due to environmental considerations.

Hsieh acknowledged that he has been aware since he was premier a couple of years ago that the Suhua freeway development project is unlikely to pass the environmental analysis review. Consequently, Hsieh said, he has been promoting the alternative “Taiwan Piloting Plan”, which exclusively aims at developing eastern Taiwan where counties are characterized by relatively small populations with natural environment and agriculture being the most valuable assets.

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