No to Beautiful Bay Resort Development Project！Bikini-clad women rally on the streets: We want beaches, not concrete

Reported by You Ru, Taipei correspondent

“We want beaches, not concrete!” This afternoon (17th), a group of bikini-clad women took to the streets to promote their cause at the Miramar Garden Hotel, the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store at Taipei Main Station, and the Ximending Pedestrian Area. Regarding the issue of the Beautiful Bay Resort, they expressed their stance of “rejecting the concretization and privatization of coastal views.” Through a performance art demonstration, they invited the public to participate in the final 4.2-kilometer stretch of the April 20th mass action “Don’t Say Goodbye to the East Coast,” a hiking event aimed at saving this beautiful and now severely threatened paradise on the east coast.


▲“We want beaches, not concrete!” Bikini-clad women take to the streets to promote their message at the Miramar Garden Hotel, the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store at Taipei Main Station, and the Ximending Pedestrian Area. (Photo provided by the Taiwan Environmental Information Association)

The Shanyuan Bay in Taitung is one of the few large sandy beaches on the eastern coast. Nine years ago, the Taitung County Government granted the site to the Beautiful Bay Resort under a BOT model. The resort was built without proper environmental impact assessments (EIA), which were only conducted retroactively and approved last December. Civic groups have repeatedly petitioned and protested against the project. Although a legal halt was briefly enacted following the EIA results, the resort announced that from May 1st, it would hold a “Beach Festival” over five consecutive months, “open to the public for free,” in an attempt to create a de facto image of “operation.”

This afternoon (17th), people dressed in bikinis and swimsuits went to high-traffic areas such as the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store at Taipei Main Station, the Ximending Pedestrian Area, and the Miramar Garden Hotel to promote the cause. They invited the public to join the “Don’t Say Goodbye to the East Coast” action on April 20th and experience a “Taitung-style” parade — not a sorrowful protest or angry outcry, but a revival of everyone’s connection to the land through music and cultural expression.

“Wearing bikinis on the street is meant to remind everyone of our bond with nature and to highlight the beauty of the east coast. Please don’t remain indifferent to the issue of development in the east,” said Li Caiwei, one of the bikini-clad participants. “Taitung is a place of breathtaking scenery that deserves to be appreciated with heart and soul. The most beautiful things in travel aren’t concrete buildings, but the local culture and spirit.”


                          ▲Bikini-clad women invite the public to join the “Don’t Say Goodbye to the East Coast” action on April 20th. (Photo provided by the Taiwan Environmental Information Association)

Chen Kaimei, a specialist at the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association Taiwan, emphasized: “By standing in front of the Miramar Garden Hotel in bikinis, we are telling the public that while caring about the coast and its beauty, we must also preserve the most stunning parts of nature for everyone who lives here.” She called on individuals and groups concerned about the ecology and tribal cultures of the east coast to unite and participate in the April 20th event “Don’t Say Goodbye to the East Coast – Taipei Parade x Ketagalan Boulevard Concert,” to save this paradise under severe threat and to deliver the message of resistance all the way to the Presidential Office, joining the movement to protect the east coast.

Participants in the April 20th “Don’t Say Goodbye to the East Coast – Taipei Parade x Ketagalan Boulevard Concert” are encouraged to create their own protest signs and artistic decorations. A ritual to expel evil spirits will be held in front of the Miramar Garden Hotel, accompanied by oceanic chants. Meanwhile, at 4:00 PM on April 20th, a “Don’t Say Goodbye to the East Coast” concert will take place on Ketagalan Boulevard, featuring 30 bands and singers, as well as 15 tribes and communities, delivering an 8-hour musical extravaganza even more spectacular than a New Year’s Eve celebration — all expressing the determination to protect the east coast through song.


▲Participants in the April 20th “Don’t Say Goodbye to the East Coast – Taipei Parade x Ketagalan Boulevard Concert” can make their own protest signs. (Photo provided by the Taiwan Environmental Information Association)