HEALTH
No tainted food found: FDA
No aquatic products from contaminated waters in the Pearl River estuary in Guangdong Province, China, have been imported into Taiwan, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The FDA issued the statement amid reports that high volumes of heavy metals and organic chemicals had been found in the Pearl River, leading to excessive amounts of lead, chromium and cadmium being detected in aquatic products from the region. Citing customs statistics, the statement said that 70 percent to 80 percent of the nation’s aquatic imports from China — mainly shrimp meat, fish cream and crab meat — come from Dongshan, Fujian Province. None of those products have been found to contain excessive levels of heavy metals or other pollutants, it added.
AGRICULTURE
MOF censured over millet
The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Ministry of Finance (MOF) for failing to supervise millet-based products. The government watchdog said that although more than 60 percent of so-called millet products on the market are brewed from glutinous rice or a mixture of other types of rice, they are all marketed as being millet-based. Control Yuan member Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said there are 24 companies registered with tax authorities as producers of millet wine — the main product derived from the cereal crop. Among the 79 wines marketed as millet wine, only 28 are actually produced from millet. Of the falsely labeled wines, one is made from glutinous rice and the remaining 50 are produced from a mixture of glutinous rice, white rice and other kinds of rice, although 47 of them are labeled as millet-based wine.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by