A maximum fine of NT$1 million (US$32,397) for people caught illegally carrying meat products from areas infected by African swine fever came into effect yesterday, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said, adding that first-time violators would be given lighter fines.
The maximum penalty was increased from NT$15,000 after the legislature on Nov. 30 passed an amendment to Article 45-1 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease (動物傳染病防治條例).
People transporting pork products from areas infected by African swine fever, such as China, would be fined NT$50,000 for the first violation, NT$500,000 for the second and NT$1 million from the third onward, the council’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.
Photo: CNA
Those carrying meat products from areas infected with foot-and-mouth disease or highly pathogenic avian influenza would be fined NT$30,000, NT$300,000 and NT$1 million for the first, second and third violations respectively, the bureau said.
People carrying meat products from disease-free areas would still face fines of NT$10,000, NT$100,000 and NT$300,000 for the first, second and third violations, it said.
As of 4pm yesterday, customs officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport had intercepted eight people — two Chinese, five Taiwanese and one Vietnamese — who were carrying meat products, bureau section chief Peng Ming-hsing (彭明興) said.
Three tourists who carried Chinese sausage products were fined NT$50,000 each, two carrying Vietnamese pork products were fined NT$30,000 each, two carrying Chinese chicken products were fined NT$30,000 each and one carrying Japanese pet food was fined NT$10,000, the bureau said.
The bureau on Wednesday issued an alert about meat imports through an emergency text message system previously used for disaster prevention purposes, sparking a debate on whether the matter merits using the system.
Many people have expressed support for the bureau’s move, but whether it would send an alert again via text message depends on the spread of the disease, COA Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching