The Kinmen County Government yesterday suspended the transportation of pork between Lieyu Township (烈嶼) and other areas of the outlying county after a dead pig found in the township tested positive for African swine fever.
It was the third infected pig carcass found in the nation’s outlying islands, following dead hogs found in Kinmen’s Jinsha Township (金沙) in December last year and in Lienchiang County’s Jyuguang Township (莒光) in January, Council of Agriculture data showed.
The carcasses might have been carried from China by sea currents, the council said, adding that no infections of the highly contagious disease have been reported on Taiwan proper.
Photo: CNA
The council on Thursday confirmed that the third carcass, which was found on Lieyu’s southwest coast on Tuesday, was infected with the same strain of the virus that is spreading in China.
There is no hog farm within a 3km radius of the site where the carcass was found, the council said, adding that it is possible that it arrived from China, as the site is only 6km from Xiamen.
The dead pig was found among marine garbage, but there were no other carcasses, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine division head Hsu Jung-pin (徐榮彬) said.
The county government suspended the transportation of pork between Lieyu, also known as Little Kinmen, and Greater Kinmen (大金門), where there is an airport with flights to Taiwan proper, he said.
The transportation of pork between Greater Kinmen and Taiwan proper would not be affected, he added.
Officials yesterday collected 137 samples from Leiyu’s eight pig farms, which keep a total of 770 pigs, Kinmen Animal and Plant Disease Control Center Director Chuang Chien-kung (莊謙恭) said, adding that the samples would be sent to the council’s Animal Health Research Institute for testing.
The ban on transportation of pork from the township would be lifted immediately if the samples test negative for the disease, Chuang added.
Additional reporting by CNA
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS