As he was grilled by lawmakers yesterday over his handling and the US’ role in the beef import ban controversy, Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said he had not reneged on his pledge to the Legislative Yuan regarding ractopamine.
The Executive Yuan’s announcement on Monday regarding the feed additive was to explain “the direction of a planned policy” rather than a predetermined policy, Chen told lawmakers.
Chen was referring to a statement released on Monday night that said the government was leaning toward the conditional lifting of a ban on the import of US beef containing residues of the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine on the principles of “allowing a safe level of ractopamine in beef, separating the permits for importing beef and pork, clearly labeling beef imports and excluding imports of internal organs.”
Saying that the Executive Yuan would collaborate with the legislature on the necessary amendments, Chen said he had not betrayed a pledge made to the legislature on Feb. 24 in which he promised not to unilaterally lift the ban with an executive order before the end of the current legislative session.
Several lawmakers questioned Chen’s integrity and his ability to safeguard public health and called for the ban on US pork imports containing the additive to be maintained once the ban on US beef has been lifted.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ken-te (陳根德) said the administrative branch had turned a blind eye to the more than 80 percent of Taiwanese who were opposed to the lifting of the ban.
He added that the decision had been rushed and KMT lawmakers not properly consulted.
While Sean Chen denied that any “pressure and threats” had come from Washington, lawmakers said they were unimpressed by the US’ use of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks and the visa-waiver program as bait and that they were disappointed by Taipei’s weakness in bowing to US pressure.
KMT legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said he was uncomfortable with comments made by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director William Stanton in an interview published on Thursday in which the diplomat said US beef had been a “stumbling block” to TIFA negotiations and that Washington had not bullied Taiwan on the issue.
“Making such comments at a time when Taiwan is trying to resolve the dispute doesn’t help,” Lai said.
The government should try to deal with the issue under the WTO framework instead of only talking to the US, DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) and KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) both said.
Lawmakers from across party lines had submitted 14 different ractopamine-related proposals to amend the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) as of yesterday, with almost all of them opposed to lifting the ban on the feed additive. The proposals are scheduled to be reviewed in the legislature on Wednesday.
In related news, an opinion poll conducted by the Taiwan Thinktank showed that 77.6 percent of respondents agreed that a zero-tolerance stance on ractopamine should be made law, DPP Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said.
The support for such a move is bipartisan, Lin added, with 78.8 percent of pan-blue supporters and 86 percent of pan-green supporters favoring such legislation.
The survey collected 1,102 samples between Wednesday and Thursday and had a margin of error of 3 percent.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS