TAIPEI: Amid a row over a British company's plans to build a tobacco plant in a Miaoli township, Taiwan's health chief Yeh Ching-chuan said his agency is opposed to the project.

Yeh, head of the Department of Health (DOH), made the remarks while fielding questions on the issue from lawmakers at a legislative committee meeting.

He said although the DOH is not the agency responsible for the matter, in principle it is opposed to plans to construct the tobacco plant because the plan runs counter to the global anti-smoking trend.

The negative implications, such as public health and pollution, could outweigh the plant's job creation benefits, Yeh said.

The anti-smoking group, the John Tung Foundation, a non-profit agency, voiced its objection to the plan a day earlier. British-based Imperial Tobacco Company Ltd wants to build a tobacco plant in northern Taiwan's Miaoli County Chunan township. The foundation criticized the local government for allowing the plan to go ahead despite strong public disapproval. The anti-smoking organization called on the watchdog arm of the government, the Control Yuan, to investigate the issue.

"The project is against international norms and could seriously tarnish Taiwan's international image," a foundation spokesman said.

The Miaoli county government recently approved the project that would see Imperial Tobacco erect a plant at the Kuanyuan technology park in Chunan.

Blanchi Cheng, a board member of the Taiwan Tobacco Institute, argued Wednesday that as a legal investment, the plan could also help to boost local economic development.

The tobacco plant would be the company's first in Southeast Asia and would serve as a base from which to explore other markets in the region.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 06/05/2009 page2)