Time for a sugar tax
The UK government is set to start levying a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks next month. Drinks that contain five or more grams of sugar per 100 milliliters are to be subject to a sugar tax of ￡0.18 per liter (US$0.26), and those containing 8g or more per 100ml are to be taxed at a rate of ￡0. 24 per liter.
The UK Office for Budget Responsibility, which provides independent fiscal oversight, predicts that the sugar tax will only contribute half as much money to the Treasury as originally thought, because many beverage manufacturers have reduced their products’ sugar content in response to the standards set for the sugar tax.
Of course the UK authorities’ main purpose in imposing a sugar tax is not to generate tax revenue, but to improve the nation’s health and cut the costs faced by the National Health Service.
Scientists and other researchers who investigated the sugar tax’s potential impact on health have found that it might contribute to public health by greatly reducing the number of people who suffer from obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.
In view of the negative effect on human health of leanness-enhancing animal feed additives, the Taiwanese government is unwilling to lift restrictions on the import of pork and specific beef products that contain the additive ractopamine.
If the government wants to safeguard people’s health, should it not be similarly concerned about the problem of sugary drinks causing serious health threats like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases? Especially since experts say that having a sweet tooth is very much like drug addiction, and the WHO has published research showing that sugar does even more harm to the human body than tobacco.
Wei Shih-chang
Yilan
Reading program a success
Sherry Hsiao’s story about vaccinations raises two important points: Thinking globally, but acting locally; and integrating literacy development with doctor visits (“Group uses vaccination visits to get kids reading,” March 25, page 3).
Chen You-ta (陳宥達), a resident physician from Taipei Medical University Hospital’s Department of Family Medicine, has designed a Reach Out and Read (ROR) program for children in rural areas of Taiwan based on the original ROR program in Boston, Massachusetts.
Through a formula that includes volunteers, family visits, grandparents and children’s books, Chen’s ROR Taiwan goals are “bridging the generation gap and allowing children in remote areas to find hope through reading.”
Chen clearly sees the importance of reading, and by supplying books for the program, he realizes and solves a common obstacle facing those living in rural areas of the world: access to books.
US studies show that children participating in ROR programs make impressive gains in vocabulary.
However, one need not look any further than Taiwan to find relevant research about the benefits of reading aloud to children. A number of articles by professor Lee Sy-ying (李思穎) at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and others show the importance of access to reading materials and the value of reading stories to children.
The key is compelling comprehensible input in the form of stories for the children to hear and read.
While I am not a physician and do not wish to comment on the use of vaccines, I do think Chen’s program linking doctor’s visits and reading is a positive initiative worth encouraging, commending and expanding upon.
Ken Smith
Wellington, New Zealand
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS