The fine for bringing pork products from Myanmar has been raised to NT$200,000 (US$6,368), after an outbreak of African swine fever was reported in the Southeast Asian nation, the Council of Agriculture announced on Wednesday.
Myanmar is the seventh Asian country to be affected by the disease, following China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea and Laos, the council said.
The new fine went into effect yesterday, a day after the World Organisation for Animal Health listed Myanmar as a country with an outbreak of African swine fever, council Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said.
The fine for attempting to bring pork products from Myanmar was increased from NT$30,000 to NT$200,000 for first-time offenders, while repeat offenders are to face a fine of NT$1 million, the council said.
Due to Myanmar’s proximity to China, where an outbreak has shown no signs of abating, people arriving at airports and seaports from the country were already subject to carry-on luggage checks, the Executive Yuan’s Central Emergency Operation Center for African swine fever said.
In addition to people arriving from the seven nations with outbreaks of the disease, those coming from Hong Kong, Macau, Russia, Thailand and South Korea must present their carry-on luggage for inspection at customs, it said.
Of the 2,084 pork products seized at customs as of Wednesday, 113 have tested positive for the disease, 99 of which were brought from China and 14 from Vietnam, council data showed.
African swine fever is a deadly disease that threatens pig populations and has no cure or vaccine, but does not affect humans. It can survive in refrigerated pork for up to 100 days and frozen pork for up to 1,000 days, the council said.
The council also requires owners of vehicles transporting hog parts to and from slaughterhouses to install GPS tracking devices in case it needs to curb virus transmission, it said.
Those who fail to install GPS devices face a fine of NT$3,000 to NT$150,000 starting this month, it added.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard