Minister of Health Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) stepped down yesterday over panic caused by the discovery of contaminated Chinese dairy ingredients and what critics said were belated and inconsistent measures to protect the public and ensure consumer confidence.
“The Department of Health’s [DOH] decision, made for efficiency’s sake, caused misunderstandings and shattered consumer confidence. I should take responsibility,” Lin said at a press conference yesterday morning after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting, during which he tendered his resignation to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄).
Lin’s resignation was approved later yesterday, making him the first official in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to step down. The DOH was first blamed for its slow reaction to and mismanagement of the crisis involving Chinese dairy products tainted with the chemical melamine, and then for its inconsistent decisions.
PHOTO: AP
Deputy ministers of health Sung Yen-jen (宋晏仁) and Cheng Shou-hsia (鄭守夏) tendered resignation letters together with Lin.
Liu also approved the resignation of Bureau of Food Safety (BFS) Director Hsiao Tung-ming (蕭東銘).
Late last night, Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川), a public health expert, was named as the next health minister.
Critics said the department should have banned dairy imports from China, checked with importers to see if imported products were tainted, and ordered an inspection or sampling of Chinese imports that had reached Taiwan.
Lin’s resignation comes as many consumers and businessmen express frustration over the DOH’s “loose” food inspection standards.
Late on Wednesday night, Sung told a press conference that the DOH had decided to loosen the food safety standard for melamine from 0 parts per million (ppm) to 2.5ppm, meaning that products containing up to 2.5ppm of the chemical could still enter the Taiwanese market.
Based on the new standard, the products of two food companies, which tested positive for melamine under the stricter standard, were allowed to go back on sale, sparking consumer anger.
The DOH said the revised standard was applied after taking into consideration instrument sensitivity and standards in other countries.
Executive Yuan Spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) told a press conference yesterday that Liu met with Lin in the afternoon and expressed the hope that Lin would remain in his post.
“But Minister Lin insisted on resigning,” Shih said.
Liu praised Lin for his handling of the controversy, saying the DOH had taken accurate and forthright action from the beginning of the incident to impose bans on imports, to locate the whereabouts of tainted raw materials and to require questionable foodstuffs to be pulled from shelves, Shih said.
Liu had also expressed his admiration over Lin taking political responsibility for the late change in testing standards for the concentration of melamine that caused the unrest, and thanked him for his contributions over the past four months, Shih said.
Later yesterday afternoon, Lin was questioned by Control Yuan member Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏), who has launched a probe to determine if there were any irregularities or instances of negligence in the government’s handling of the case.
EIGHT-YEAR WINDOW: Avril Haines said that Beijing is closely watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although Moscow’s actions have not sped up Beijing’s timeline The threat posed by China to Taiwan until 2030 is “critical,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Tuesday while testifying on worldwide threats at a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services. “I think it’s fair to say that it’s critical, or acute,” Haines said when asked by US Senator Josh Hawley if she viewed the threat facing Taiwan to be acute from now until 2030. “It’s our view that they [China] are working hard to effectively put themselves into a position in which their military is capable of taking Taiwan over our intervention,” she said, without
‘DAMOCLES SWORD’: An Italian missionary said the arrest of cardinal Zen is a blow for the church in Hong Kong, China and the world, signaling great danger ahead China yesterday defended the arrest of a 90-year-old Catholic cardinal under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, a move that triggered international outrage and deepened concerns over Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in the territory. Retired cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Asia, was among a group of veteran democracy advocates arrested on Wednesday for “colluding with foreign forces.” Pop singer Denise Ho (何韻詩), veteran barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀) and cultural studies academic Hui Po-keung (許寶強) were also arrested, the latter as he attempted to fly to Europe to take up an academic post. Cyd Ho (何秀蘭), a democracy
PEACE AND STABILITY: American Institute in Taiwan spokesman Ed Dunn called Taiwan a leading democracy and a critical economic and security partner of the US Changes to the US Department of State’s fact sheet on Taiwan indicate a significant warming in relations between the two nations, an academic said yesterday, as Beijing denounced them as “political manipulation.” The department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs on Thursday updated its online fact sheet on Taiwan-US relations, removing statements saying that Washington acknowledged Beijing’s “one China” position and did not support Taiwanese independence. A previous version of the document opened with the statement: “The United States and Taiwan enjoy a robust unofficial relationship” and said the US acknowledged “the Chinese position that there is but one China and
OPPOSING CHINESE ‘HOSTILITY’: The bill orders the state secretary to create a plan to regain observer status for Taiwan, saying Taipei is a model contributor to world health US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill into law to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA), demonstrating Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. Friday was the deadline for Biden to sign the bill (S.812), which directs “the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization (WHO), and for other purposes.” The 75th WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, from Sunday next week to May 28. The bill, introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the US Senate
RSS