Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) condemned his Chinese counterpart yesterday for stalling over the test results of melamine-tainted non-dairy creamers.
The safety of Chinese food products was a hot topic at the legislature’s Health, Environment and Labor Committee during a review of the health department’s budget. Yeh came under fire from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators for the lack of information from Beijing on the tests of imported creamers.
“I hereby express stern objections to China’s Ministry of Health,” Yeh said, adding that his department was pushing its Chinese counterpart on the issue every day and he did not know why there had been no reply.
In August, the department reported that 25 tonnes of melamine-tainted milk powder had been imported. Non-dairy creamers imported by King Car Co were also found to contain melamine, an industrial chemical banned as a food additive.
The supplier of the tainted creamers — Shandong Duqing Co — has not apologized.
DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) accused the health department of being “helpless, weak and incapable” in the face of China’s “delaying tactics.” He demanded the department take more effective measures against China.
“There should be more substantive measures than just expressing condemnation,” Lai said. “If Duqing does not offer a satisfactory answer, we should ban Chinese food imports altogether.”
All food products and ingredients imported from China should be clearly labeled, Lai said, and compensation should be paid if any products cause harm to Taiwanese businesses or consumers.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers also voiced concern over Chinese food imports.
KMT Legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交) asked the health department to pass on the legislature’s concerns to the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait delegation that arrived yesterday for talks.
Yeh said the contents of the proposed cross-strait agreement on food safety would specify that China must impose strict regulations on its exports to ensure that they pass Taiwan’s standards.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
RSS