China’s poor handling of the African swine fever crisis is evidence of the dangers of close cross-strait ties, National Taiwan University professor of veterinary studies Lai Shiow-suey (賴秀穗) said.
Taiwan has stepped up customs inspections at ports of entry in light of an outbreak that has been reported in 23 areas in China, which international media reports say has seen about 600,000 pigs culled since August.
Lai, 77, has been widely praised for his work to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease and the avian flu in Taiwan.
Photo: Ashley Chiu, Taipei Times
In an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times), Lai said that China failed to isolate and slaughter pigs infected with the disease, instead using them to make processed pork products.
The result was that African swine fever, which had not been a problem in Asia for 97 years, is spreading in epidemic proportions, he said.
If Taiwan and China were to grow too close politically, it might be impossible to stop diseases like this from spreading throughout the nation, he said.
In Europe, when the disease occurs, it spreads 100km in a year, but in China it has already spread over a 1,000km radius in just five months, he said.
In China, veterinarians are powerless to combat infectious diseases, whereas in Taiwan the government listens to the advice of veterinarians to enact policy, he said.
While the Chinese government has reported the eradication of several hundred infected pigs that were being raised on private property, there have so far been no reports of infections at commercial farms, Lai said.
However, as China lost control of the disease’s early spread, it is inevitable that commercial farms would have been affected, he said.
“Commercial farms in China each raise several hundred thousand pigs — maybe up to 1 million. Do you think they would slaughter that many pigs in one go? Impossible,” he said.
China likely only reported a small number of infections, but it is highly likely that 100 million of China’s roughly 430 million pigs are infected by now, he said.
The economic impact on China is likely to reach several trillion yua, he said, adding that it will be difficult to raise pigs in China from now on.
By sending infected pigs to butchers to be processed, Chinese farmers contributed to the spread in two ways: first by transporting infected pigs, thereby exposing more animals to infection, and second by allowing infected pork to enter the food chain.
“What is most scary is that Europe has been unable to eradicate the disease after 61 years, and each country there has at most several million pigs. China will not get rid of the infection even in 100 years,” he said.
Due to the US-China trade dispute, China stopped importing US pork and instead imported several million tonnes of pork from Russia, which has African swine fever, he said.
Lab tests on the virus from pigs in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, showed that it was the same strain as found in Russia and Poland, he said.
Taiwan must be cautious, as the virus is likely to spread throughout Southeast Asia over the next year or two, he said.
Farmers especially must report the disease if they find it and must not send infected pigs to be slaughtered, he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it