Breaking the silicon silence: Voicing health and environmental impacts within taiwan's hsinchu science park
Journal
Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry
ISBN
9781592133291
Date Issued
2006-12-01
Author(s)
Abstract
Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) is located northeast of Taiwan and about forty-four miles south of Taipei, the capital city. It stretches for 632 hectares over both Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City. The newly developed 138-hectare Chunan base is located in Miaoli County, south of Hsinchu (see Figure 15.1).1 The HSIP is Taiwan's first sciencebased industrial park, established in 1980 as part of the state's strategic plan for promoting high-tech industries. It started with 17 firms in 1981, and, as of June 2003, there were 348 companies with 98,725 employees. Companies in the Park are engaged primarily in the design, manufacture, and research and development of high-tech products. The major industries within the Park can be categorized into six basic groups: integrated circuits, computers and peripherals, telecommunications, opt-electronics, precision machinery, and biotechnology. This chapter reveals the environmental and occupational consequences of this electronics boom at the HSIP, and questions why and how local residents and high-tech employees have remained silent about these problems over the past two decades. Why does the information technology (IT) industry have such power over politicians and society in Taiwan? The chapter argues that a unique IT dominance, cultivated by the HSIP's success, has constrained local residents and IT laborers who otherwise might have voiced their concerns on the adverse impacts of IT development and manufacturing. The following three sections explain the concept of IT dominance, provide an overview of the environmental impacts of the high-tech firms in the HSIP, and discuss stories of resistance, as told from the point of view of local residents and high-tech employees. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the lessons learned from the HSIP experiences. © 2006 by The Temple University Press. All rights reserved.
Type
book part