The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday criticized the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) planned march tomorrow to oppose the government’s decision to relax restrictions on US beef as an election gambit.
KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said the march was initiated by Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) of the DPP.
Information the KMT gathered from southern Taiwan indicated that the event was organized to set the stage for Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (?]) and former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山), who have expressed an interest in the party’s nomination for next year’s mayoral election in Tainan City, which will be integrated with Tainan County into a special municipality, Lee said.
Su, along with a number of civic groups, has called on the public to join a demonstration in Taipei tomorrow to protest the central government’s decision to lift the ban on US bone-in beef and beef organs.
The demonstration will start at Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station at 2pm and end on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office, where a rally will take place until 9pm.
Rebutting Lee’s accusation, DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), at a separate setting yesterday, said the central government’s decision to widen US beef access into Taiwan has spurred strong objection from all sides, especially from the public.
A string of civic groups such as the John Tung Foundation and the Consumers’ Foundation are calling for a referendum to be held on the issue, he pointed out.
Tsai said several pan-blue heads of local government, such as Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), have also spoken out against the lifting of the ban, “but their objection is merely a show because they are unwilling to take concrete action to oppose the policy.”
“The demand for the government to safeguard public health should be backed up with bipartisan support and it is very regrettable that the KMT has chosen to smear the issue and disrespected the people’s will,” Tsai said.
Despite the possibility of the US agreeing to a new round of talks being slim, the DPP will continue to make the demand, Tsai said.
He added that the party would exhaust every measure to force the government to launch fresh talks before considering employing other methods such as organizing a consumer boycott of US beef.
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