Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday rejected calls for a referendum on the government’s relaxed beef policy, while Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday pledged support for one in an open letter.
In an interview with the UFO Network radio station, Wu said a referendum would be inappropriate and there was no good reason for one. There is a risk that the matter of US beef imports would become “tainted by populism,” making a rational debate impossible, he said.
Civic groups have launched a petition to seek a referendum on whether the government should renegotiate its deal with the US.
Wu urged the public to trust in the Department of Health, the legislature’s role as a supervisory body, standards of international trade negotiations and the safety standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health.
Taiwan cannot “resort to referendums” on all matters or “we will stumble in our footsteps,” he said.
To stem the outcry over its beef policy, the government said on Monday that it would use administrative means to obstruct some imports.
“With the measures in place, there will be close to no chance of imports of ground beef and internal organs. For now we have only opened the market to one more US beef product — bone-in beef,” Wu said.
Also yesterday, Wu told reporters at the Ministry of the Interior that the Executive Yuan would send its beef protocol to the legislature for its reference.
“The [Rules Governing the Processing of Treaties and Agreements, 條約及協定處理準則] stipulate that once a protocol is approved by the Executive Yuan and is thus effective, it is to be sent to the legislature for its reference. We have great respect for the legislature,” he said.
His comment followed a statement by Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) a day earlier that the protocol was effective without legislative review.
Tsai, meanwhile, said in her open letter that she would back the actions of civic groups seeking a referendum, including any demonstrations. Tsai called for bipartisan support on the matter.
Tsai said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was “against the people” and that it was arrogant of the government to relax its beef policy without consulting domestic health experts or first submitting the deal for legislative oversight.
“The government has put on a facade of protecting public health ... with these technical measures, but we see right through them,” Tsai said, referring to the administrative measures announced on Monday. “The government could change its regulations at any time because it lacks the expertise needed for inspections and easily caves in to US pressure.”
The measures involved thawing certain US beef imports for inspection, blocking them in effect by causing them to deteriorate during the inspection process.
Tsai said she feared a “lose-lose” situation for Taipei and Washington in which consumers lose confidence in both governments.
The best option would be either to renegotiate or to ban the controversial products through legislation, she said.
Meanwhile, Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) told reporters yesterday that he had applied for a permit to hold a demonstration in Taipei this weekend, with Internet users urging the public to take to the streets on Sunday morning.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS