More than 1,000 protesters are expected to take to the streets of Taipei on Sunday to condemn the government for “fooling” the public over its food safety policy and to urge consumers to stand up for food safety, the National Food Safety Alliance said yesterday.
“We chose to march on April Fools’ Day because what the government has promised us has proven to be a lie,” said Lu Mei-luan (呂美鸞), secretary-general of the Homemakers United Foundation, one of the dozens of civic groups across the nation that gathered to form the National Food Safety Alliance.
The alliance has demanded a ban on meat containing lean meat additives, a refusal to accept the government’s policy of conditional imports of beef with residues of ractopamine and the full disclosure of the government’s food safety policies. It has also urged the government to allow non-governmental organizations to voice their concerns at inter-ministerial meetings on the issue to make food safety policy more transparent.
Lu said the government has been fooling the public by saying that there is no planned schedule for allowing imports of US beef containing ractopamine and claiming to be “a Cabinet which allows the public to put their mind at rest.”
“A dark era of food safety is coming,” representatives from the alliance told a press conference in Taipei yesterday.
Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳), an official at the Life Conservationists Association, asked all participants to wear black shirts and dark-colored pants to the march, to walk silently without any flags or signs, and to hold electric candles in their hands to symbolize a dark era of food safety and the light of hope.
“We have to stand up to invite more people to care about food safety,” Lu said, “We have to stand up for the right to be healthy and express our expectations for safe meals for us and for our children.”
The protest march will begin at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall’s Liberty Square at 5pm and finish on Ketagalan Boulevard at about 6:30pm.
The alliance estimates that more than 1,000 people will take part in the rally.
If the government does not respond to the public’s expectations, the alliance will consider initiating another protest rally on May 20, the day of the president’s inauguration, Lu added.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it