The Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on Tuesday officially declared Taiwan proper, Penghu and Matsu a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)-free zone where vaccination is not practiced, the Council of Agriculture and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced on Facebook late on Tuesday night.
Kinmen was not included by the OIE as the county remains a FMD-free zone where vaccination is practiced.
The news, which had been expected, would facilitate the resumption of fresh pork exports after a 24-year hiatus.
Photo courtesy of Chiayi County Government
“Beginning now, Taiwan can finally resume pork exports and Taiwan’s pork can finally regain its place on the world stage,” Tsai wrote.
The council would not relax its guard as it works to prevent the spread of FMD and African swine fever in the nation, council Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) wrote.
Chen added that the government hopes exports of fresh pork products could resume later this year.
He had previously said that Singapore was expected to be the first market.
The council said the nation’s pig farming industry had export sales of NT$60 billion (US$2.02 billion at the current exchange rate) in 1996, but was hit hard by an FMD outbreak in March 1997, which triggered the ban on exports of fresh pork products.
Prior to that outbreak, the nation had been free of the disease for more than 68 years
A few months after the outbreak, Taiwan began widespread FMD vaccinations and in 2003, it gained the status of an FMD-free nation where vaccination is practiced.
The government tried to end the vaccination program in 2009 in a bid to qualify for non-vaccination status, but the effort failed after seven FMD cases were reported that year.
Taiwan proper, Penghu and Matsu saw their last FMD case in 2013 and regained FMD-free status with vaccination in August 2017, while an outbreak in Kinmen occurred in 2015, resulting in the county only regaining its status in May 2018.
The government began a program on July 1, 2018, to eliminate the need for FMD inoculation everywhere but Kinmen, and in July last year it applied to the OIE for FMD-free status.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed ruminants.
A total of 5.51 million pigs are being raised nationwide and pig farming last year was valued at NT$70.9 billion, council data showed.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique