The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday accused the government of rushing through a decision to lift a ban on imports of food products from five Japanese prefectures affected by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday evening announced that 10 public hearings are to held nationwide from today to Monday on the issue.
Academics, professionals, civic groups and members of the public have been invited to participate to exchange views on the import of food products from Japan’s Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The KMT caucus, accompanied by Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), said that the that the government is “rushing through the hearings, which the public has demanded, just for the sake of holding public hearings.”
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said that the KMT caucus and Chin had urged the Ministry of Health and Welfare to hold public hearings on the issue before, but the ministry had stubbornly resisted their demand.
“When it finally acceded to the request, it decided to hold four hearings each on Saturday and Sunday” and two on Monday, Wang said.
Wang also questioned the title of the public hearings — “The import of Japanese food” — in the Executive Yuan’s announcement.
“Where did the description ‘radiation-affected regions’ go?” Wang asked.
The government also failed to disclose the names of the academics, professionals and groups that were invited and through what channels they were invited, Wang said.
Chin said she suspects the DPP government made an under-the-table deal with the Japanese government during the Taiwan-Japan talks on maritime affairs late last month.
“I also highly suspect that our government is under pressure to hurry through the public hearings, because it wants Japan’s assistance in building submarines,” she said.
Wang said the 10 public hearings have failed to meet the standards set by the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, and “are therefore invalid.”
She asked people to voice their protest at the hearings.
The Executive Yuan said in the news release that the Japanese government had stepped up its oversight of the manufacturing of food products from the affected regions, and many countries have already completely or conditionally lifted their bans on imports.
It said that the ministry and the Council of Agriculture are mulling a two-stage opening of the market, with the ban on food products from Fukushima remaining in the first stage, while allowing the entry of imports from the four other prefectures, with lot-by-lot inspections and other robust control measures implemented.
The KMT caucus later yesterday filed a legislative motion asking the government not to allow the import of food products from Japan’s radiation-affected prefectures until a mutual legal assistance agreement is signed with Japan.
The motion is to be discussed in a cross-caucus negotiation before being processed.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS