Legislators across party lines yesterday called on Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to apologize for the string of food scandals that might not end with Ting Hsin International Group’s (頂新集團) tainted oil, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urging the premier to step down and a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator saying that Jiang would need to be “pulled off the shelf” if the government could not rebuild people’s confidence in locally manufactured food.
KMT Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) and People First Party Legislator Thomas Lee (李桐豪) asked Jiang to apologize to Taiwanese for the food safety crisis.
“The premier, besides apologizing, should make it clear that the government is drawing a line between itself and the corporations. It should present hard-hitting policies to show that it is standing by the public,” Kung said, saying that Ting Hsin has been “treating people like pigs” before calling on prosecutors to detain former Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新製油實業) chairman Wei Ying-chun (魏應充) immediately.
Lee said that the string of food scandals over the past year has completely undermined public confidence in the government and the so-called “returning salmon corporations” — companies that went to China and returned with investments — and they all occurred on Jiang’s watch at the helm of the Cabinet.
Lee also questioned the effect of a “food safety office” that was set up at the behest of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Monday, emphasizing that the crisis is not confined to cooking oil products, but affects the safety of all the processed food, requiring action from many government agencies.
Saying that Jiang “owes the public an apology,” KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) said that “since boycotting substandard products has become a public movement, the premier would also be pulled off shelves if [the government] does not quickly awaken to reality.”
KMT Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) seconded the view, saying that if any more mistakes are made, “[the premier] would not get away with the final political responsibility or resignation.”
Jiang, questioned by KMT Legislator Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞) on the legislative floor, said he is willing to apologize to Taiwanese at any time, “but the government’s role and responsibility is not to bow and apologize all the time, but to fix the flawed system and propose concrete measures.”
Meanwhile, the DPP called for Jiang’s immediate departure and Ma’s apology, saying that since the government could call itself the victim of a swindler in the previous adulterated olive oil scandal, it could be seen as innocent only that first time.
“Being cheated for the second time shows that it is impotent and the third time would have us strongly suspect that it is part of the ring of scammers,” DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said.
DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) questioned the organization, status and accountability of of the “food safety office,” emphasizing that the president has been making guarantees every time a food scare erupts, but none have been kept.
“It indicates that the national security meeting held on Monday was more rhetoric than substance,” Huang said.
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