A delegation led by Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) departed for the US yesterday, where it plans to sign a US$3.6 billion deal in Washington to buy US soybeans, corn, wheat, beef and other agricultural products.
The council has carefully evaluated the nation’s market demands, and the deal would benefit Taiwan-US economic cooperation, Chen said.
The council sends a delegation to the US every two years to buy agricultural products and details of each deal are based on market demand and prices, but the quantity it plans to buy has increased this year, he said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Taiwanese farmers use domestic soybeans and corn for fresh feed and imported ones, which are less expensive, for dry feed, he said, which means the imports would not depress domestic prices.
Included in the deal would be exports of US-raised meat, especially beef, the demand for which is increasing every year, he said.
Taiwan is the eighth-largest importer of US agricultural products and an important trade partner to the US, he said.
“Undeniably, the US-China trade dispute has affected US agricultural exports, and the deal is beneficial not only to US farmers, but also to Taiwan, as our nation is now in a better bargaining position in terms of prices,” Chen said.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office said the nation is taking action to strengthen Taiwan-US trade and it wishes to be a reliable trade partner.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS