At today's Cabinet Meeting, Premier Lin Chuan was moved to reflect on Chi Po-lin, director of the award-winning film "Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above," who perished in a helicopter crash on June 10 while scouting locations for a follow-up documentary.
The premier said that Taiwan has lost a sincere, dedicated filmmaker who showed by his actions that he really cared about and wanted to protect this land, leaving us all shocked, and more than a little sad. He then expressed deep grief over the passing of Chi Po-lin, his assistant Chen Kuan-chi, and the helicopter pilot Chang Chih-kuang, and asked that all the organizations involved do everything possible to assist the families of the deceased in this time of grief.
Through his lens, Chi Po-lin not only captured Taiwan's beauty, but also showed how the pursuit of development in recent years has decimated this land. Since the new administration took office, it has therefore devoted tremendous effort to the sustainable development of Taiwan's land and environment.
These efforts include land use planning for the nation, special municipalities, counties and cities based on the Spatial Planning Act to conserve and protect our native land. For districts where the land has deteriorated, the government will also draft a national restoration plan to rehabilitate that land and revitalize those areas, and make our land healthy again, the premier said.
The government is also promoting an air pollution control strategy to improve air quality and protect public health, and investigating ways to consolidate idle or underutilized fishing ports, restore natural shorelines and free up resources that will facilitate coastal tourism industry development.
Cement mining rights have also been a matter of concern recently, so to protect the environment, after the amended Mining Act is passed, supplementary assessments will be required for all mines that have not undergone environmental impact assessments, Lin said.
In closing, the premier emphasized that the government still has much to do, and will carry on the spirit of Chi Po-lin with concrete policies and actions to preserve the beauty of Taiwan for future generations.