Taiwan has not yet received an invitation to the World Organisation for Animal Health’s (OIE) regional conference on African swine fever that is to take place in Beijing on Monday, but Vietnam is seeking the nation’s help in testing the virus, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
The highly contagious disease has not been found in Taiwan, but the government has been implementing preventive measures since China first reported an outbreak on Aug. 3 last year, followed by Vietnam on Feb. 20 and Cambodia on Wednesday.
Although Taiwan is an OIE member, China, as the conference’s host nation can decide which nations to invite, council Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
The council on Wednesday wrote to the OIE to request permission to participate, but has not yet received a response, he said, adding that it is no stranger to Beijing’s “petty actions.”
If Taiwan receives an invitation at the last moment, officials have made related preparations, including a list of non-governmental and official attendees, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Director-General Feng Hai-tung (馮海東) said.
Information exchange at the conference is important, as Taiwan can learn from other nations that have reported outbreaks to make early preparations in the event that the disease enters Taiwan, he said.
Even if the nation is barred from the meeting, it would still join the OIE’s annual conference scheduled for next month in Paris, Feng said.
It is not clear how much information Beijing would share at Monday’s meeting, so it would not be that regrettable if Taiwan could not attend, Huang said.
The council has been collecting information about the disease through Taiwanese businesspeople and other channels, and learned of possible outbreaks in Vietnam and Cambodia prior to their official reports to the OIE, he said.
The council on Feb. 20 listed Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand as high-risk areas for African swine fever, meaning that all carry-on luggage from the areas must undergo X-ray scanning at customs.
People caught illegally carrying pork products from areas infected with the disease within the past three years would face a fine of NT$200,000 (US$6,490) for the first offense and NT$1 million for repeated offenses, it said, adding that visitors who fail to pay the fines at customs would be denied entry.
The Vietnamese government last month asked Taiwan to share techniques for testing antibodies in pigs infected with African swine fever, showing that it has more confidence in Taiwan than in China for tackling diseases, Huang said.
The council is glad to offer help, but the collaboration should be further negotiated through foreign affairs channels due to the costs involved, he added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS