A group of activists demonstrated at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday to protest what they called Washington’s high-handed attitude in forcing Taiwan to open its doors to US beef containing residues of the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine.
The protest was organized by several civic groups, including the National Alliance for Food Safety and Citizen Congress Watch.
The Legislative Yuan is scheduled to vote next week on a package of amendments to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) that would pave the way for the entry under strict conditions of US beef containing residues of the currently banned drug.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
The activists sang ballads, performed skits and chanted slogans to highlight their cause.
In one skit, activists acted as US President Barack Obama and AIT Director William Stanton, forcing Taiwanese people to eat US beef contaminated with ractopamine, a drug that is banned in Taiwan and dozens of other countries because of health concerns.
Chen Man-li (陳曼麗), president of the Homemakers United Foundation, a key member of a national alliance for food safety, described the US as one of Taiwan’s allies in the international community.
“Therefore, it should not be coercing Taiwan to import its ractopamine-contaminated beef, putting our people’s health at risk,” Chen said.
Even though Taiwan is an “underdog” in global society, it should not be forced to seek international cooperation at the expense of its people’s health, Chen added.
Cheng Hsiu-chuan (鄭秀娟), head of the Wenshan Community College in Taipei, said the US traditionally regards Taiwan as a friend.
“It should not stray from that tradition by forcing Taiwan to import its drug-tainted beef. We should fight against such a move to win respect. Otherwise, we could be forced to compromise on more things or accept even more humiliating terms in the future,” Cheng said.
Police officers were mobilized to keep the protesters away from the AIT’s main entrance.
The AIT did not send any officials to meet the demonstrators.
The protest lasted for about 15 minutes and ended peacefully.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS