The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday questioned the effectiveness of an upcoming cross-strait forum on agricultural affairs to be jointly held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government.
The forum is scheduled to be held in Fujian, China, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The director of the DPP's Department of Chinese Affairs Lai I-chung (
Chinese farmers have been dumping products in the Tai-wanese market, but the safety and quality of these products cannot be guaranteed, he said.
As more and more Taiwanese farmers invest in agriculture in China, there is also a risk that Taiwan's agricultural technology may be "stolen" by Chinese farmers, he added.
DPP Legislator Wu Ming-ming (
He added that many Chinese manufacturers also pirate trademarks of Taiwanese products or add the word "Taiwan" to their product names to take advantage of the good image and reputation that Taiwanese products enjoy abroad.
Many consumers have been deceived by these fake trademarks or product names, he said, adding that the counterfeit items have gradually seized the market share of Taiwanese products in other countries such as Japan.
Wu told the media that about 30,000 cases of copyright violations have been put on hold in China, but he did not have detailed information as to how many of them were related to Taiwanese trademarks.
"If the forum is really being held to uphold Taiwanese people's interests, I hope the forum deals with the copyright issue first," he said.
Drawing on a survey done by the party's survey center on 1,018 people between Oct. 3 and Oct. 5, Lai said that close to 90 percent of respondents were worried about food safety as more and more Chinese agricultural products were being sold in Taiwan.
About 60 percent of respondents said they were worried that Taiwanese agricultural products may lose their edge in the global market as more and more Taiwan-ese investors transfer advanced agricultural technologies to China.
More than 60 percent of respondents said they did not believe that the forum between the KMT and the Chinese government could solve the fundamental problems relating to cross-strait agricultural exchange.
Lai added that only through "government-to-government" nego-tiations under the framework of the WTO could these problems be addressed.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS