Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) last night announced that he would resign from his post.
Local media on Sunday reported that Chen had resigned due to controversy over the ministry’s egg import program. Later that same evening, the Executive Yuan said that Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) had asked the minister to stay on to resolve the issue.
Chen Chi-chung last night made public his decision to resign on Facebook, saying that this time he would not be dissuaded.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Chen Chi-chung earlier yesterday apologized for the furor surrounding the egg import program, but added that misinformation had made the problems worse.
The government was right to initiate the program and the results, including egg prices stabilizing, justified the high costs, he said.
As part of the program, the ministry imported 145 million eggs from Brazil and six other nations from March to July to address a domestic shortage earlier this year.
However, 54 million eggs — or 37 percent of the imports, with a value of more than NT$200 million (US$6.25 million) — had to be destroyed, mostly because they expired in storage facilities after domestic production rebounded, the ministry said.
The government has also been criticized for being slow to provide information on the whereabouts of the imported eggs, thus failing to assuage fears among the public that the expired or substandard eggs might have been put on the market.
The ministry has said that no eggs were sold past their expiration date.
A batch of 20,000 imported eggs was recalled last week after incorrect expiration dates were printed on them.
Questions have also been asked about why Ultra Source, a company with capital of only NT$500,000, was contracted by the government to import 88 million eggs under the program.
Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢), president of the National Animal Industry Foundation which assisted the ministry in importing the eggs, also announced his resignation on Facebook last night.
Both resignations have been approved by the premier.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
RSS