Referendum on Taiwan’s Fourth Nuclear Plant Suspended · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Under the immense pressure from anti-nuclear activists, the lawmakers from the ruling Kuomingtang (KMT) party and opposition party the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) decided to suspend moving forward with a referendum on the island's fourth nuclear power plant until September 2013, according to local news report on August 6.
The ruling party was determined to solve the controversy over the fourth nuclear plant by means of a referendum because opinion back in February showed that those opposed to the plant were less than 50 percent across Taiwan. And hence, the Executive Yuan proposed the referendum on the nuclear power plant on February 25, 2013.
But some argue Taiwan's tough referendum law is unfair, requiring 50 percent of voters to participate in the referendum or else the proposal in the referendum will be rejected, even if those who have voted reach a majority consensus. In the last ten years, six national referendums have been proposed, but none of them was passed.
Anti-nuclear activists responded by mobilizing citizen campaigns in major cities for a nuke-free Taiwan. This latest development is a temporary victory for anti-nuclear activists.
March 9 anti-nuclear rally in Taipei city. Photo taken by 孫窮理, coolloud.org.tw. Non-commercial use.
Outraged by the government's referendum proposal, on March 9, 2013, around 200,000 250,000 protesters [zh] rallied in Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Taitung, demanding the government stop the nuclear plant without going through the referendum. The number of protesters has broken the record of all previous mobilization on environmental issues. The mobilization has some visible effects on public opinion. As cultural critic Chang Tie-chih pointed out, the anti-nuclear effort has developed into a citizen-initiated movement [zh] for a nuke-free Taiwan.
Since the island-wide mobilization in March, anti-nuclear activists has started gathering outside the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in the centre of Taipei city every Friday, inviting university professors to deliver talks about nuclear power, singers to perform, and poets to recite poetry as well as holding citizen forums to plan for future action. In addition to the weekend face-to-face gathering, activists and concerned citizens created a large number of groups and pages devoted to the anti-nuclear campaign. To name a few here:
Anti-nuclear flash mob via Facebook group Anti-nuclear army
Disregarding people's wish for a nuke-free Taiwan, on April 26 the government submitted the referendum proposal to the Legislative Yuan for a second reading and lawmakers had one month for internal discussion and negotiation. Anti-nuclear groups responded with a rally in Taipei city on May 19. When the one-month negotiation period came to an end on May 26, activists surrounded the Legislative Yuan [zh], demanding the lawmakers put an end to the nuclear plant project.
On August 2, the referendum proposal was submitted to the Legislative Yuan for a second and third reading but lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party occupied the chairperson's stage and stopped the vote.
Protesters demonstrated outside the Legislative Yuan in August 2 against the fourth nuclear plant and the referendum. Photo taken by 陳逸婷, coolloud.org. Non-commercial use.
Anti-nuclear activists are prepared with two strategies. On one front, they protested outside the Legislative Yuan and explained to the public the problem of existing referendum law. On another, they also prepared to mobilize and win the referendum despite the rule of the game being unfair to them. By August 1, a survey conducted by a marketing company on “The Trend of Taiwan Society” [zh] showed that 70% of the opinion is against the development of nuclear plant.
Before the second reading, the Anti-Nuke Action Coalition  reinstated their position [zh] against the referendum:
我們認為，停建核四已獲絕大多數民眾的支持，立法院作為全國最高民意機關應善盡職責、充分反映民意，作出停建核四的決議，不必再勞師動眾，舉辦全國性公投。
我們認為國民黨立委若執意要舉辦核四停建公投，則應滿足以下兩個條件後，再處理公投提案，否則，核四停建公投將是玩弄人民、為核四續建備書的技倆：
一、提出核四工程品質現況檢驗報告，證明核四值得投入預算、繼續興建。
二、修正公投法，降低公投案通過之投票率門檻，以正確反映民意。
我們要求立法院在完成上列條件後，再處理核四公投提案，不應貿然在本次臨時會予以表決。
我們呼籲支持非核家園的立委們全力反對核四公投提案之表決。
Several organizations have prepared for the worse case scenario that the referendum be passed in the Legislation Yuan, as reported [zh] by Taiwan independent media coolloud.org:
綠盟秘書長崔愫欣[…]強調反核的民眾已經準備好面對公投，將會透過組織化動員，正面迎戰。
The placard said: “If you don't vote for the referendum, you vote for nuclear disaster.” via Facebook 洪雅書房. Public photo.
Now that the Legislative Yuan has agreed to suspend voting on the referendum proposal, the anti-nuclear activists will continue to pressure the government to stop the fourth nuclear power plant from operating with its administrative power.