Tests for the H5N1 bird flu virus on a Taiwanese farm, birds from which were alleged by a British official to have infected a parrot that reached the UK, have proved negative.
Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Bureau director-general Watson Sung (宋華聰) said that 40 cloaca and larynx samples taken from the farm showed that the birds there were perfectly healthy.
When asked by reporters which birds were sampled and how many birds the farm had, Sung said more details could not be revealed in the interests of the farm's owner.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
A parrot from Suriname arrived in Britain on Sept. 16 that was quarantined and killed when it was found to be carrying the H5N1 strain of bird flu.
Debby Reynolds, chief veterinary officer with Britain's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) then suggested that birds from Taiwan had been responsible for infecting the parrot.
Sung said that, "I strongly object to Britain's accusation that the parrot from Suriname was infected by birds from Taiwan. By not providing Taiwan with relevant details and being ambiguous in statements to the media, the British government has tarnished Taiwan's image. What they have done is very irresponsible."
Sung said that Taiwan's representative in Britain, Lin Hsin-yi (林俊義), had asked for details from DEFRA regarding the number of birds that had been imported from Taiwan, what kinds of birds they were and which flight they were on, but had received no response.
"If the British government had any questions they should have asked us. They shouldn't have not given us a response. That was very irresponsible," he said, adding that all the birds from Taiwan had met all of the British regulations in terms of health checks and tests.
Sung also announced in a meeting earlier yesterday morning that sampling for H5N1 among migratory birds will be taken in 10 wetland areas, including Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Changhua and Taichung, with 3,000 samples to be collected annually.
However, Sung said that in the event that the H5N1 virus is found in any of the samples, no migratory birds would be culled.
"No other country has done so, either," he said.
In the event that samples from migratory birds test positive for H5N1, all bird and chicken farms within a 3km radius would be monitored.
When reporters asked why migratory birds would not be culled, Sung said that it would be impossible to tell which birds were infected with the H5N1 virus.
Meanwhile, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday instructed the Department of Health to establish a Bird Flu Relief Center to stand by in case an outbreak occurs.
"The center will provide updates on the latest developments and information on the disease so that the public will not be inconvenienced or panicked by wrong information or rumor," he said.
Hsieh also said the center will distribute booklets containing advice on how the public should prepare for or respond to an outbreak.
"Bird flu is a universal problem. We need to let the public know what is really going on, and what is not, or else misleading information will result in disruption," he said.
also see story:
Taiwan to share expertise in preventing bird flu: Lu
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
RSS