Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday reiterated that travelers from Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Taiwanese returning home from the two areas, are to have their carry-on and check-in luggage fully checked at customs.
Su made the remarks on Facebook after a case of African swine fever was reported at a Hong Kong slaughterhouse on Friday.
Su said the government has since Jan. 16 been inspecting carry-on luggage of passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau, and has since purchased X-ray scanners, which are deployed at customs and ports nationwide.
Screen grab from Premier Su Tseng-chang’s Facebook page
He called on people to be on the lookout so that minced pork rice, a quintessential Taiwanese street food, would be protected.
Separately yesterday, Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said that the case in Hong Kong could have been expected, given that the region imports most of its pork from China, and is near China’s Guangdong and Fujian provinces, which reported infection cases last year.
Quarantine measures are adequate and the council has no plans to implement additional measures, Huang said.
In related news, as the annual meeting of the World Organisation for Animal Health is to take place in Paris at the end of this month, the council’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said it has received an invitation and would send representatives to the meeting.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
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