The 2024 presidential election is set for January 13, and with the campaign entering its final stretch, candidates from all camps are sparring over a wide range of issues. As an ocean lover (and cat), Blu naturally pays special attention to ocean-related topics! Unfortunately, ocean issues appear to be something of a niche concern, receiving relatively little coverage in the mainstream media. That's why Blu and the Editor spent time combing through the official websites of all three presidential and vice-presidential candidate pairs, as well as candidates' social media posts, to compile the ocean-related policy proposals put forward by the three presidential candidates. We invite everyone who cares about the ocean to take a look!
In this article, we examine each candidate's ocean-related proposals under three major themes. During our research, however, we found that not every candidate has laid out a comprehensive ocean policy platform. Blu and the Editor have done their best to gather and present all publicly available information. If you've spotted other ocean policy proposals worth sharing, ocean lovers are welcome to let us know via Facebook or our official LINE account.
*The presidential candidates below appear in ballot order.
Ocean Industry Development Policies
-
Ko Wen-je: -
-
Lai Ching-te:
-
The National Ocean Policy White Paper was passed in 2020 and will continue to guide the diversified development of ocean industries.
-
Balance the multiple uses of maritime space and actively develop offshore wind power.
-
Develop Taiwan's marine recreational resources and strengthen the marine leisure industry.
-
Ensure transportation access for outlying island residents and promote island revitalization programs.
-
-
Hou Yu-ih:
-
Develop Keelung Port, Hualien Port, Kaohsiung Port, and Penghu Port as international cruise home ports and supply ports, increasing incentives for international cruise lines to call on Taiwan.
-
Under the principle of marine conservation, develop coastal ecology and marine recreational activities, and fully leverage Taiwan's character as an ocean nation.
-
Marine Ecology, Sustainability & Energy Policies
-
Ko Wen-je:
- Promote the three ocean laws — the Marine Industry Development Act, the Marine Conservation Act, and the Marine Space Management Act — to not only safeguard marine biodiversity but also maximize the ocean's carbon sequestration function.
-
Lai Ching-te:
-
Strengthen the management of marine protected areas (MPAs) and expand the effectiveness of marine conservation.
-
Survey and enrich coastal ecosystems to enhance the ocean's carbon sequestration capacity.
-
Reduce plastic pollution in the ocean and promote the recycling of marine debris.
-
Marine conservation is both an obligation and a responsibility. In the future, dedicated budgets, organizational capacity, and staffing will be allocated so that the international community can see that Taiwan is not only "Asia's beacon of democracy and freedom," but also a "role model for marine species protection and ecosystem stewardship."
-
Develop diverse green energy and invest in forward-looking energy sources — beyond conventional solar and wind power — by accelerating geothermal, hydrogen, biomass, and ocean energy.
-
Transform Penghu into a net-zero demonstration city, powered by solar, wind, and future tidal energy.
-
-
Hou Yu-ih:
- Prioritize offshore wind power before 2030 — installed not only on the seabed but also as floating platforms in deep water — while also actively pursuing deep geothermal and ocean current energy in the future.
Ocean Education & Culture Policies
-
Ko Wen-je: -
-
Lai Ching-te:
-
Continue to promote the "Saluting the Sea" initiative to cultivate ocean literacy among the general public.
-
Pass down diverse ocean culture and promote the development of underwater cultural heritage.
-
Strengthen the ocean education system and nurture marine professionals.
-
Deepen ocean science and research capacity for sustainable ocean use.
-
-
Hou Yu-ih: -
In preparing this report, BlueTrend reached out to all campaign offices, inviting them to provide additional policy proposals or information for inclusion. A unified editorial deadline of January 10 was set for the information presented above.
To date, only Lai Ching-te's official campaign website has a dedicated page for ocean policy proposals. While the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) was established during Lai Ching-te's tenure as Premier in 2018, the Ocean Basic Act was passed in 2019, and the National Ocean Policy White Paper was approved in 2020 under Premier Su Tseng-chang, two of the three ocean laws — the Marine Space Management Act and the Marine Conservation Act — have been stalled and have yet to pass their third reading, despite eight years of Democratic Progressive Party governance and a legislative majority.
At the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference, nearly 200 countries agreed to protect 30% of the world's land and oceans by 2030. On March 4 this year, the United Nations adopted the High Seas Treaty, establishing a legal framework to bring more of the high seas under protection. When it comes to marine conservation, Taiwan can no longer afford to stand still.
As debates over national security, the economy, and energy have reached a fever pitch, Blu and the Editor can't help but notice that ocean issues have received very little attention from candidates across all camps. We sincerely hope that in future elections, more candidates will be willing to devote resources to deepening their ocean-related policy platforms and discourse.
Occurrences of "Ocean/Sea" (海) in the Official Election Gazette Candidate Policy Sections
In addition to compiling the presidential candidates' ocean policy proposals, Blu and the Editor used a decidedly old-fashioned method: searching the electronic version of the official election gazette for the character "海" (ocean/sea/marine) in legislative candidates' policy statements. See if there's a candidate in your constituency below!
A quick note from Blu: candidates who presented their policy platforms as image files — which cannot be searched — were not included in this compilation. Also, the content below is quoted directly from the publicly available election gazette and does not represent the editorial position of this publication.
Taipei City District 2 — Wang Shih-chien
Strongly urge the government to accelerate reservoir dredging, promote universal water quality testing, and build additional seawater desalination plants and reclaimed water facilities.
Taipei City District 5 — Chang Hua-te
Amend legislation to help police, firefighters, and Coast Guard personnel form unions and protect their labor rights and entitled benefits.
Taipei City District 8 — Chang Wei-hsueh
-
Food safety: Ban imports of ractopamine-treated meat and strengthen testing of marine fish for radioactive substances (plutonium, strontium, cesium, tritium, etc.).
-
Strengthen the monitoring of radioactive substances in Taiwan's maritime waters.
New Taipei City District 1 — Hsu Pai-ti
-
Establish a public legal entity for the Tamsui River basin and develop a culturally rich North Coast: Promote a national-level program for dredging and restoring the Tamsui River and its watershed.
-
Restore water-based transportation, sports, and recreation along the river; leverage the area's cultural assets by developing the North Coast into an international cultural exchange platform, expanding Taipei Port into an international tourism hub, promoting a North Coast tourism corridor, revitalizing Fisherman's Wharf, and establishing a beach, grand theater, sports arena, luxury hotel, and a nostalgic Taiwan-Hong Kong audiovisual cinema.
-
International Freshwater Metropolis: Leverage Tamsui's history, culture, waterways, green corridors, and new town districts to develop a commercial center, leisure center, and tourism center (including marine tourism, an international culinary center, and an international conference and exhibition center).
New Taipei City District 12 — Yang Mu-huo
-
Promote the decommissioning of the Lungmen (Nuclear Power Plant No. 4) site to protect the Greater Taipei water source area:
- On the day Lungmen begins operation, residents of Gongliao, Shuangxi, Ruifang, communities along the coastal highway, and Keelung will start drinking radiation-contaminated water.
-
Promote the demolition of the Lungmen heavy-component wharf to protect the golden beaches of Fulong and Yanliao and ensure sustainable use of natural resources:
-
The golden sandy beach stretching from Fulong Beach to Yanliao — a stretch of coastline that holds beautiful memories for people across Taiwan — has suffered massive sand loss along 4 kilometers of shoreline due to a jetty effect caused by the construction of the "Lungmen heavy-component wharf," and the erosion has yet to stop.
-
Prevent the rocky-shore fate that befell Toucheng Beach from recurring at Fulong and Yanliao, so the "Fulong International Sand Sculpture Festival" will always have sand to sculpt, and the "Gongliao International Ocean Music Festival" will always have a beach to hold its events.
-
Kaohsiung City District 8 — Lai Jui-lung
-
Successfully secured funding for a new Kaohsiung Airport terminal and the redevelopment of Kaohsiung Port; will continue pursuing dual sea-air port infrastructure development to elevate Kaohsiung's image as an international harbor city.
-
Successfully secured the redevelopment of Qianzhen Fishing Harbor, championed the third reading of the Ocean Basic Act and the Marine Industry Development Act, and supported the establishment of the Ocean Affairs Council along with related construction projects at Kaohsiung and surrounding fishing harbors. Will continue to promote the marine industry, developing urban marine tourism, fishery tourism, and the yacht and cruise sectors.
-
Successfully secured the planning launch of the Second Cross-Harbor Tunnel, extended the lifespan of the existing cross-harbor tunnel, commissioned three electrically powered ferries, revitalized Cijin Island tourism, opened Cijin waters to recreational activities, and pursued coastline restoration. Will continue to develop New Cijin and build it into a major marine tourism island.
Kaohsiung City District 8 — Chan Hsiu-ying
- Food safety first; ban nuclear-contaminated food: Oppose Japan's discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, which damages the marine environment, harms the entire world, impacts the marine industries that sustain our livelihoods, and threatens our food safety. Impose a comprehensive ban on imports of Japanese seafood, agricultural, livestock, and processed food products to safeguard public health and food safety.
Yunlin County District 1 — Su Chih-fen
-
Develop a coastal new economy: establish a hydrogen energy, energy storage, and carbon economy climate-tech base in Taixi; promote Mailiao and Taixi as a forward-looking energy and advanced materials industrial park.
-
Develop a Taiwan Coastal Plant Garden in Sihu and a 230-hectare agrivoltaic integrated park.
Yunlin County District 1 — Wu Ping-hui
- Integrate coastal port facilities to expand international logistics, develop a coastal yacht tourism corridor to drive expanded external transport links along Provincial Highways 78 and 61, and promote comprehensive growth in coastal population as well as industrial, fishery, commercial, and business development.
Nantou County Districts 1 & 2 — Chen Kuo-jung
-
Founded Hualien's first whale-watching boat service in 1997, generating an annual tourist flow of 260,000 visitors.
-
Founded indigenous marine cetacean interpretation services in 1998, creating employment opportunities for Amis communities along the coast.
-
Advocate for the designation of exclusive fishery rights in marine zones for indigenous peoples, enabling tribal co-management of economic maritime areas.
Yilan County — Chen Chun-yu
- Advocate for the buy-back of aging fishing vessels and the release of berthing slots to develop marine leisure and recreation activities.
Hualien County — Hsu Yuan-shen
- Use kitchen waste to feed fish along the Hualien coast; fish will come to feed, boosting foreign exchange earnings and driving Hualien's economic takeoff.
Mountain Indigenous Peoples Legislative Election Candidate — Chung-jen · Dalusu
- Land: Enact an "Indigenous Peoples' Land and Sea Territory Act." Promote an "Indigenous Land and Preserved Land Administrative Cases" service window program to provide assistance with inheritance procedures or various application processes for indigenous preserved land, with central-level tracking synchronized with local case handling and open online inquiry, ensuring that indigenous land rights are not delayed or damaged by complex administrative procedures across different levels of government.
Mountain Indigenous Peoples Legislative Election Candidate — Kung Wen-chi
- Continue to promote the Indigenous Peoples' Autonomy Act, the Anti-Ethnic Discrimination Act, the Land and Sea Territory Act, and amendments to the Wildlife Conservation Act, so that indigenous peoples may exercise the right to self-determination, and to advance equality among ethnic groups and interethnic harmony within Taiwan.
Mountain Indigenous Peoples Legislative Election Candidate — Lu Hsien-yi
- Accelerate the legislative process for the "Indigenous Peoples' Land and Sea Territory Act" to give practical effect to the spirit of traditional territorial rights.
Mountain Indigenous Peoples Legislative Election Candidate — Hu Huang Kuang-wen
- Promote the legislation of the "Indigenous Peoples' Land and Sea Territory Act," integrated within the framework of the National Land Planning Act, to establish cultural territorial rights over indigenous peoples' land and to safeguard the land of their ancestors.
Mountain Indigenous Peoples Legislative Election Candidate — Chen Kuo-jung
-
Founded Hualien's first whale-watching boat service in 1997, generating an annual tourist flow of 260,000 visitors.
-
Founded indigenous marine cetacean interpretation services in 1998, creating employment opportunities for Amis communities along the coast.
-
Advocate for the designation of exclusive fishery rights in marine zones for indigenous peoples, enabling tribal co-management of economic maritime areas.
Penghu County — Yang Yao
-
Three rounds of NT$500 million, continuing: advancing healthcare, sustaining the ocean, and upgrading tourism
-
Secure NT$500 million or more to continue upgrading medical and diagnostic equipment at two hospitals, recruit outstanding medical professionals, help health centers update their facilities, improve remote healthcare, and enhance local medical service quality.
-
Secure NT$500 million or more to scale up the removal of ghost nets and floating marine debris from the seabed; strengthen the restoration of marine habitat and ecosystems, and leave this beautiful sea for the next generation.
-
Secure NT$500 million or more to deepen Penghu's tourism appeal, develop landmark tourism infrastructure, improve recreational quality, and continue to promote autumn and winter tourism while taking the island's environmental carrying capacity into account.
-
-
Demand that the central government maintain fuel subsidies for the fishing industry; assist underutilized fishing harbors in transitioning to shared use and dredge navigation channels to maintain harbor facility safety; demand that the Ocean Affairs Council intensify efforts to expel Chinese fishing vessels that intrude into Taiwan's waters, and conduct ecological monitoring of the marine environment around Penghu.
Penghu County — Wu Cheng-chieh
-
Penghu's New Vision: 5A New City (1A — Ocean Culture City)
-
Ten Key Proposals (1. Build Penghu into an Ocean Innovation City)
Lienchiang County — Li Wen
-
【Marine Environment】
-
Establish a central-level fisheries research station to assist and guide local aquaculture industries.
-
Leverage environmental recycling technology to address marine debris pollution.
-
Advocate for enhanced Coast Guard capacity, with a comprehensive increase in personnel and vessels.
-
-
【Industry & Workforce】
- Plan water-based activities in Matsu and establish beach facilities.
Sources:
Further Reading:
