The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday called on the government not to put diplomacy before food safety, demanding a halt to the reported lifting of restrictions on food products from radiation-affected regions of Japan.
KMT legislators Lin Te-fu (林德福), Chiang Hui-chen (江惠貞) and Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said at a news conference that they are against sacrificing people’s health for the sake of diplomacy, citing the Chinese-language United Daily, which ran a front-page article saying that food products from the Japanese prefectures, except those from Fukushima “due to the sensitivity of its name,” starting next week would have bans lifted on entry into Taiwan.
Taiwan placed the ban on food products from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba and Gunma prefectures after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident triggered by the Tohuku earthquake and tsunami.
The United Daily report said that the ban is to be partially lifted next week after several rounds of negotiations on the matter between the two nation’s governments.
Chiang said the Ministry of Health and Welfare should not unilaterally make the decision when most of the public is still wary about the safety of products from the areas.
Wu said the ministry should not cave in “just because Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s brother [Nobuo Kishi] visited Taiwan.”
Kishi and a group of delegates visited Taiwan in late April to voice concern over measures to require labeling on Japanese foodstuffs to show specific places of origin and certification showing that the products had passed radiation inspections — a measure taken in the wake of a food labeling scandal in which the production location on Japanese foodstuffs was found to be incorrect.
“Taiwan cannot be the first country to lift the ban,” Wu said, adding that China and South Korea have maintained similar measures.
Ministry of Health and Welfare Vice Minister Hsu Ming-neng (許銘能) said an end to the ban was not the announcement to be made next week.
“Japan last year asked for a re-examination of the restrictions, and we sent a few specialists to Japan in September and October to evaluate the risk [posed by food products from the areas],” said Hsu, who was invited by the caucus to the news conference. “The specialists advised that lifting the ban could be done for regions other than Fukushima and we have been cautiously evaluating [the possibility].”
“However, the decision will not be made until sufficient communication with the public and lawmakers has been done,” Hsu added.
Separately yesterday, Food and Drug Administration Deputy Director Hsueh Fu-chin (薛復琴) shrugged off the report.
She said that bilateral discussion on the matter was ongoing, but no consensus had been reached.
“This case is still being evaluated and we have yet to make any decisions or set up a timetable,” Hsueh said, adding that even if the ban was relaxed, radioactive content in Japanese foods should still fall within national requirements.
Hsueh said the import ban on Japanese foods produced in the five prefectures remained unchanged, with manufacturers of edible products from other parts of the country being required to provide an official certification on the place of origin.
In addition, aquatic products from Miyagi, Iwate, Ehime and Tokyo prefectures; tea items from Shizuoka, Tokyo, Aichi and Osaka prefectures; as well as dairy products, baby formula, candy, cookies and grain foods from Miyagi, Saitama and Tokyo prefectures are allowed to enter Taiwan only if they have a radiation report, Hsueh said.
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