Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said yesterday the government would soon ease restrictions on US beef.
However, any decision will be dependent on US officials, who have expressed dissatisfaction with new rules that Taipei has proposed ahead of a market reopening, Yeh said.
“I can only assure you that the new regulations will be stricter than those enforced in South Korea,” Yeh said.
South Korea restricts imports of US beef to boneless and bone-in meat, organs and other products from cows younger than 30 months.
Taiwan only allows boneless beef from cows younger than 30 months. All other parts of the animal are banned.
Yeh made the remarks while eating a US steak during a luncheon with reporters. He said that all investigations and discussions about the issue were almost complete, but US officials were not satisfied with the new rules.
“We care about whether it is safe. They [the Americans] care about whether they will 'lose face,'” Yeh said.
Yeh said that the latest communication with US officials took place on Saturday.
He said US officials were concerned that if Washington agreed to Taiwan's terms, it would have difficulty negotiating with other countries that might propose the same standards and restrictions like Taiwan.
“The ball is now in their court,” Yeh said. “But, I am quite sure that this issue will come to a conclusion very soon.”
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS