The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it was not satisfied with Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) responses to their three demands, based on which they occupied the podiums in the legislature’s general assembly chamber to block legislative proceedings on Tuesday.
The premier was able to present his policy report to the legislature yesterday, following his failed attempt on Tuesday, when KMT lawmakers boycotted Lin’s report.
In the latest version of the report provided yesterday, responses to the three demands tabled by the KMT caucus on Tuesday — not to allow the import of US pork with ractopamine, not to allow the import of products from the five Japanese prefectures that were affected by radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in March 2011 and to ensure Taiwanese fishermen’s rights are protected in disputed waters near the Okinotori atoll claimed by Japan — were added.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The responses reiterated the Executive Yuan’s response on Wednesday.
On the accusation that imports of US pork containing ractopamine residue would be allowed soon, Lin said that pig farmers’ interests would be protected by enhancing the domestic pork industry and that “until evidence-based risk evaluation is undertaken, we are against any domestic pork and imported pork containing leanness-enhancing additives.”
Regarding the import of Japanese food products from radiation-affected regions, “scientific evidence in line with international regulations would be the grounds for the government’s food safety management” and the government would continue to watch closely the related examinations in Japan and other countries’ regulations and test results concerning Japanese foodstuffs,” Lin said, adding that so far, there are no plans to relax the restrictions.”
On the Okinotori waters dispute, the premier said that there is no dispute over Japan’s sovereignty over Okinotori, but Taiwan’s stance is that Japan should not claim a 200-nautical-mile (370.4km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) based on Okitonori.
“Taiwanese fishermen have the right to fish in the waters near Okinotori and the government will make every effort to guard their rights,” Lin said, but added that whether Okinotori is an island, which would be grounds for an EEZ, is an issue that has not been decided by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).
The KMT caucus said the premier’s responses were “evasive” and unsatisfactory, accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of being weak when facing Japan.
“I am disappointed with [the government] in that it does not dare to say that Okinotori is a reef. And why did Lin say [in the report] that Taiwan is ‘willing’ to engage in dialogue with Japan? Is Japan ‘willing’ to do that? If it is, why is it not stated in the report?” KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) asked.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) fumed over Lin’s statement that whether Okinotori is a reef has to be determined by the CLCS, saying: “What if the international ruling never comes?”
“And the fact is, the CLCS actually does not deliver rulings on EEZs,” she said. “We now only need a simple answer to the question of whether our fishermen can enter the 200-nautical-mile region of Okinotori.”
Ridiculing Lin’s claim that it the UN is required to determine whether Okinotori is a reef, KMT Legislator Lee Yan-hsiu (李彥秀) asked: “Are we to ask the UN to decide whether we are a country as well?”
The KMT lawmakers also criticized the premier for bringing up “risk evaluations” as they said that it means the import of US pork would in the end be allowed after all.
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