Four out of five people are opposed to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policy of lifting the ban on the animal feed additive ractopamine, a survey conducted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) showed.
The opinion poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, found 80.9 percent of respondents said they did not support the policy, which would allow imported US beef products containing traces of ractopamine, the DPP told a press conference yesterday.
DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said 58.8 percent said they “definitely did not support” the policy, while 22.1 percent said they were “somewhat against” it.
“It seems to us that Taiwanese understand the situation very well, as most of them dislike the fact that Ma is trading public health for his own benefit — US support for his re-election campaign,” Lin said.
The survey showed that more than half of those polled had no confidence in the Ma administration’s handling of the issue, with 67.4 percent saying that they did not believe the president’s assertion that no scientific evidence proves that ractopamine adversely affects human health; 62.7 percent said they have no confidence in Ma’s ability to safeguard food safety; while 70.8 percent said they were not satisfied with the president’s handling of the issue.
The survey questioned 1,261 people and had a margin of error of 2.81 percent.
The DPP said that it takes the same view as the public, that health should take priority over the “so-called national interest” in trade relations, Lin said.
He added that the president had not explained what Taiwan’s diplomatic and trade gains would be for making the concession on public health.
The DPP said it supports a nationwide protest being organized by pig farmers and civic groups, which is scheduled to take place today.
In related news, the DPP’s legislative caucus reiterated that the party has a zero-tolerance policy on ractopamine and that it is opposed to relaxing the maximum residue level (MRL) for the drug to 10 parts per billion, which is reportedly the Department of Health’s planned MRL for ractopamine.
DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), whose constituency is in Yilan County, urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-controlled local governments to follow the lead of Yilan County, which has said it would ban all imports of beef containing ractopamine residues from its jurisdiction.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
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