HEALTH
No tainted food found: FDA
No aquatic products from contaminated waters in the Pearl River estuary in Guangdong Province, China, have been imported into Taiwan, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The FDA issued the statement amid reports that high volumes of heavy metals and organic chemicals had been found in the Pearl River, leading to excessive amounts of lead, chromium and cadmium being detected in aquatic products from the region. Citing customs statistics, the statement said that 70 percent to 80 percent of the nation’s aquatic imports from China — mainly shrimp meat, fish cream and crab meat — come from Dongshan, Fujian Province. None of those products have been found to contain excessive levels of heavy metals or other pollutants, it added.
AGRICULTURE
MOF censured over millet
The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Ministry of Finance (MOF) for failing to supervise millet-based products. The government watchdog said that although more than 60 percent of so-called millet products on the market are brewed from glutinous rice or a mixture of other types of rice, they are all marketed as being millet-based. Control Yuan member Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said there are 24 companies registered with tax authorities as producers of millet wine — the main product derived from the cereal crop. Among the 79 wines marketed as millet wine, only 28 are actually produced from millet. Of the falsely labeled wines, one is made from glutinous rice and the remaining 50 are produced from a mixture of glutinous rice, white rice and other kinds of rice, although 47 of them are labeled as millet-based wine.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard