(Tai Pei Times) -- Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopeful Tsai Ing-wen yesterday defended her plans to move the nation's petrochemicals industry to the Middle East, calling the effort environmentally friendly, viable and urgently needed. On a visit to the Yilan Green Expo, the contender for the DPP's presidential nomination said the sensitive wetlands in Changhua County were an ⌠unsuitable location to build a USD 20.5 bln petrochemical complex.
Tsai said a better idea would be to build the facilities in oil producing regions, referring to comments she made last week proposing that future petrochemicals plants be built either in Saudi Arabia or other oil-producing Middle Eastern states.
Her comments came amid controversy over whether construction should start at the proposed eighth naphtha plant, which has drawn opposition from activists and local residents, citing health and environmental concerns.