China’s spreading milk scandal is threatening support for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policy of closer ties with China.
Taipei homemaker Wu Chun-fang, 42, voted for Ma in the presidential election last March but now has her doubts about his China policy.
“I am worried that his promise for closer ties with China will bring in more tainted Chinese products to Taiwan,” she said.
China’s toxic milk crisis is worrying consumers around the world, rekindling doubts from Britain to New Zealand about the safety of Chinese products. In Taiwan, the stakes are also political.
Ma cruised to victory in March by convincing a large majority of voters that his predecessor’s policy of distancing Taiwan from its communist rival was bad for business and a threat to regional peace. Now many Taiwanese are questioning whether Ma was right, amid nonstop media coverage of Chinese products being recalled from store shelves and of anxious parents monitoring their children’s health.
There have been no confirmed melamine-related cases in Taiwan, though Taiwanese media reported that a two-year-old girl who recently returned from China is being checked for kidney damage.
The Ma government has tried to allay public concerns by banning the import of Chinese dairy products, but criticism intensified this week after health officials said they would raise the acceptable levels of melamine in food products, apparently to mollify retailers.
China policy expert Andrew Yang (楊念祖) of Taipei's Council of Advanced Political Studies said that further wavering by the government could undermine popular support for Ma's wide-ranging China initiative.
"If Ma fails to impose strict controls on the import of Chinese goods, people will lose confidence in his cross-strait policy,'' he said.
Local merchants have been forced to remove an estimated NT$1 billion (US$31.3 million) worth of Chinese milk products from store shelves in the past few days.
In a bustling business district in Taipei, many shops have put up signs saying they do not stock Chinese products. Tea bar owner Huang Chi-bin, 34, said his business had taken a big hit.
"Fewer people are buying milk tea from me now, even though I told my customers we don't use Chinese milk,'' he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS