By Hong Shouyu
The Formosa Plastics Corporation, is a plastics giant based in Taiwan, with operations in various countries. In 2009 it received the Black Planet Award for its “leading” role in environmental destruction. In June 2024 it faced accusations from local residents and environmental groups in Texas of secretly dumping microplastic particles (PFAS) into water sources after decades of investigations. Meanwhile, the corporation plans to build a large plastics factory along the Mississippi River. For decades, Formosa Plastics has committed crimes against the health of local communities and workers in Taiwan and worldwide, standing as a symbol of petrochemical pollution.
According to a 2014 survey by the Environmental Protection Agency, four of Taiwan’s top ten greenhouse gas emitters were subsidiaries of Formosa Plastics, collectively accounting for 23% of the nation’s total carbon emissions. Professor Chan Changchuan, who has long investigated the environmental and health impacts of its Mailiao Refinery, revealed the health risks posed to local residents by leaks of vinyl chloride—a Class I carcinogen known to cause liver cancer. In 2013, Professor Chan detected thioacetic acid (a byproduct formed when the human body metabolizes vinyl chloride) in the urine of 303 schoolchildren from nearby villages. By 2018, his follow-up study found that over one-third of these children had developed mild liver fibrosis, while a quarter displayed abnormally high fatty liver index levels.
The rise of a polluting giant like Formosa Plastics would not have been possible without the support of Taiwan’s capitalist regime—whether under the former KMT dictatorship or the current bourgeois two-party system. Even in Vietnam, anti-pollution activists have been imprisoned for protesting against Formosa Plastics. Its history serves as a powerful lesson on how profit-driven capitalism has contributed to Taiwan’s ongoing environmental crisis.
US Aid and Imperial Hegemony
After Chiang Kai-shek’s regime retreated to Taiwan, it consolidated power by granting local tycoons and landlords economic monopolies in exchange for political support. The Wang brothers initially amassed their wealth through harvesting virgin cypress forests under “special permission” from the government, accumulating tens of millions in ill-gotten profits. This fortune became the foundation for Wang Yung-ching to establish Formosa Plastics Corporation.
Following the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, US imperialism, seeking to contain revolutionary movements and secure a dictatorship in the East Asian island nation, funneled financial and material aid to local elites through the KMT regime. Alongside propping up the dictatorship, the US aimed to transform landlords and tenant farmers into a bourgeois class and a working class through Taiwan’s industrialization, ensuring Taiwan’s continued dependence on US financial capital.
US imperialism and the KMT regime provided Wang with a loan of nearly $800,000 to construct Taiwan’s first PVC plastic raw material factory in Kaohsiung. From that point onward, the economic foundation of Formosa Plastics was tied to the demands of US petrochemical capital within the international division of labor. With the backing of the KMT party-state, the corporation steadily expanded its domestic and export markets. Often overlooked, however, was how the KMT dictatorship created a regulatory-free environment that enabled Formosa Plastics to pollute with impunity, while martial law ensured the discipline of its workers.
During this period, Taiwanese workers were subjected to severe exploitation and harmed by industrial pollution in and around factories. It was only with the gradual democratization of Taiwan in the 1980s that many such cases came to light. For instance, harmful gas emissions from Formosa Plastics Corp’s Changhua Plant caused serious health issues among local residents, including lung adenocarcinoma, heart diseases, and asthma. To this day, affected residents have not received any compensation.
Taiwan Under Petrochemical Capital
Despite Formosa Plastics Corp accumulating immense wealth through its monopoly, it remained politically excluded from the core circle of the party-state elite. The transformation of Formosa Plastics into a “petrochemical empire” only began in the 1970s, as the US started to “deindustrialize” in response to the growing environmental movement. Concurrently, the oil crises created shortages in petrochemical materials. To stabilize the oil industry—which then consisted primarily of mid- and downstream sectors—the KMT state classified the oil industry as a strategic sector. It invested heavily in upstream oil processing facilities, constructing large-scale refineries such as the Second and Third Refineries. To absorb excess production capacity, numerous midstream companies were established through state and party-owned investments, alongside policies that protected the midstream oil sector.
As Formosa Plastics grew wealthier, it integrated with party-state capital to form a privileged, profit-driven clique within the petrochemical industry. By the 1980s, Taiwan’s petrochemical capital began lobbying to fix raw material prices, expand production capacity to maintain its monopoly, and relax regulatory measures. The influence of petrochemical corporations on the KMT bureaucracy continued to grow. Premier Yu Kuo-hwa and his cabinet championed the construction of the Fourth and Fifth Refineries, while President Lee Teng-hui and Premier Hau Pei-tsun supported the Sixth Refinery project in 1991.
By the mid-1980s, petrochemical corporations were no longer merely lobbying the state but were actively consulted on industrial policy. In 1985, Wang Yung-ching joined the “Economic Innovation Committee,” granting Formosa Plastics even greater political influence. When the Sixth Refinery project was approved in 1986, Formosa Plastics promptly acquired the 286-hectare Litse Industrial Zone in Yilan from the Industrial Bureau for its construction.
Regardless of which faction within the ruling classes prevails in political struggles, the environment and working class remain the ultimate victims. The state serves the interests of the bourgeoisie, not the working class. Formosa Plastics Corp exemplifies this dynamic, underscoring why the environmental movement must ultimately challenge and dismantle the state itself.
Local Factions Mobilized Around the Mailiao Refinery
When Formosa Plastics announced plans to build the Sixth Refinery in Yilan, nearly all Yilan County councilors eagerly visited and expressed their support. Many local politicians who had previously served as lackeys of the party-state were now just as willing to serve the interests of petrochemical capital.
A similar pattern unfolded when the Sixth Refinery project was relocated to Mailiao, Yunlin. Yunlin County Magistrate quickly endorsed the project. Politicians falsely claimed the refinery would bring development and opportunities, mobilizing public support. However, local political factions in Yunlin had already purchased farmland around the planned site at low prices, reaping massive profits by selling the land to Formosa Plastics. This collusion was entirely “legal.” After the refinery became operational, local factions secured control over adjacent industries, such as waste removal, ensuring sustainable profits and helping Formosa Plastics manage local sentiment.
So why did Yilan ultimately reject the refinery and resist both capital and local factions? Many attribute this to the opposition of Yilan County Magistrate Chen Dingnan, who later joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). However, Chen initially expressed “conditional support” for the refinery during discussions with Wang Yung-ching. He later justified his opposition by citing “progress in the scientific report by National Taiwan University.” In reality, the key force that blocked the refinery was the grassroots resistance of intellectuals and Yilan citizens, driven by the spirit of democratic struggles and the anti-pollution movement of the time.
The anti-pollution movement gained momentum across Taiwan in the 1980s, triggered by revelations of pollution from the Fifth Refinery and the Formosa Chemical Plant in Changhua. Local teachers organized citizens through mobilization, speeches, rallies, marches, and protests. This grassroots activism created a political momentum that forced the hand of Chen Dingnan to oppose the project. It also demonstrated that mass movements, rather than national-level politicians, are the critical force in countering local factions and resisting destructive developments.
Formosa Plastics’ Dirty Tactics of Intimidation, Co-optation, and Perjury
The success of the anti-pollution movement in Yilan forced Formosa Plastics to look for alternative sites in Aogu, Chiayi, and Kuanyin, Taoyuan, but grassroots protests in these locations also blocked its plans. In response, Formosa Plastics resorted to the threat of capital flight, announcing it would halt all new projects in Taiwan and shift operations to Canada, the US, or China. This alarmed the party-state and the bourgeois class, which shared common interests with the petrochemical industry.
In response, the Lee Teng-hui administration swiftly enacted the Statute for Industrial Innovation, granting the Sixth Refinery project a five-year tax exemption and amending laws to transfer ownership of Mailiao Port to Formosa Plastics. When Chinese authorities approved the establishment of a Formosa Plastics plant in Fujian in 1992, the KMT government rezoned 7,000 hectares of agricultural land in Yunlin County to allow construction of the refinery. It also offered subsidies for land purchases, water discounts, and low-interest loans while simultaneously intimidating opponents to ensure Formosa Plastics would remain in Taiwan.
In the face of mass protests against pollution, capitalists often use the threat of “withdrawing capital and closing factories” to pressure governments into making concessions. The socialist response to such tactics should be to expropriate capitalist assets, ensure green production under workers’ democratic control, and achieve this through mass struggle. Without such measures, the dilemma of unemployment versus pollution will continue to plague society.
In July 2010, two consecutive fires broke out at the Mailiao Refinery. Toxic chemicals mixed with rainwater polluted nearby farmland, causing significant losses for local farmers and sparking large protests by residents. At the forefront was Hsu Chongfu, who led the demonstrations and later became mayor of Mailiao Township (2014–2018). However, once elected, Hsu underwent an overnight transformation into a staunch advocate for the refinery, stating that it benefited Mailiao by “giving back to the community.” Formosa Plastics achieved this shift by exploiting the financial struggles of local governments, which often face limited budgets and difficulty providing public services. By offering modest “community contributions” in lieu of proper compensation, the company maintained a “harmonious” relationship with most villagers.
For a corporation with a net profit of NT$370 billion (11bnUSD) in 2018, an annual contribution of NT$330 million(10 million USD)—or even the tens of billions it claims to invest in Mailiao—is negligible. The health and environmental damages suffered by villagers far exceed any monetary contributions.
The pollution caused by incidents at the Mailiao Refinery impacts not just the local area but the whole of Taiwan. The fight against the Mailiao Refinery should not remain confined to the local level but must grow into a nationwide anti-pollution movement. With Formosa Plastics placed under democratic public ownership, a “green transformation” could be implemented to clean up petrochemical pollution. Only then can we end the Wangs’ decades-long crimes of poisoning Taiwan’s environment and politics, while also providing comprehensive compensation and care to the local residents who have long suffered under Formosa Plastics.
Green Revolution Against the Petrochemical Empire
The people of Taiwan can no longer remain passive in the face of the escalating climate and environmental crisis. It is time to take decisive action to transform Formosa Plastics and the petrochemical industry as a whole.
To fundamentally reshape this petrochemical-dependent island, we need a left-wing party that leverages revolutionary mass struggles to dismantle the capitalist system—a system that prioritizes profits over the needs of the people and the environment. Democratic public ownership of Formosa Plastics and other petrochemical assets must be implemented.
A planned economy focusing on serving social needs while protecting the environment, under workers’ democratic control, is essential. This would allow workers in the petrochemical industry to transition to green production with proper protection and retraining. The immense private wealth amassed by Formosa Plastics Corp and the Wang family must be transferred into democratic public ownership. These social funds can then be directed toward investments in green energy and sustainable production, addressing the environmental and social damage caused by the petrochemical industry.
Only through these transformative changes, grounded in socialist workers’ democracy, can the wounds inflicted by the petrochemical empire be healed and a sustainable future be built.
