Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chih-ching (陳志清) yesterday reiterated the council’s opposition to imports of US pork containing the leanness-promoting additive ractopamine, following controversial remarks by agriculture minister-designate Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻), who said US pork imports are an inevitable part of the nation’s push to join the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In media interviews last week, Tsao said that there was nothing he could do to stop imports of US pork containing ractopamine, as Taiwan is a small economy that does not have the leverage to refuse imports of US pork in a globalized world.
The remark drew criticism across party lines, and the incoming Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has been accused of making secret deals with the US at the expense of the public’s health and the nation’s pig farming industry.
During a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee scheduled to discuss a draft bill on food and agriculture education yesterday, Chen said he respected Tsao’s opinions, but the current administration would continue to adopt separate approaches to US beef and pork imports.
“The future government will decide future agriculture policies, and the council has left the regulations of ractopamine-containing pork to be addressed by the new administration. Taiwanese have different dietary habits from other Asian nations such as Japan and South Korea. Taiwanese consume seven times more pork than beef, and we like to eat intestines, which is why the government has insisted on handling US beef and pork imports separately,” Chen said.
“What is the point of today’s meeting on food and agricultural education when the agriculture minister-designate has already said that imports of US pork are unstoppable due to Taiwan trying to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership? The draft bill [proposed by DPP legislators] was a slap in the DPP leadership’s face by DPP legislators,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善) said.
“The KMT administration has insisted on handling US beef and pork imports separately and maintaining a zero-tolerance policy on ractopamine residue [in imported pork] to protect citizens’ health. I do not know how the new government can protect the public’s health when it has shown its hand before negotiations even start,” Chang said, adding that excessive consumption of ractopamine can damage the human reproductive system.
In talks with the US last year, the Taiwanese government stood firm on its stance of separating permits for imports of beef and pork, and the use of leanness-promoting additives in domestic pig farming is banned to protect the public’s health, Chen said.
KMT Legislator Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) questioned the efficacy of a system that would require ractopamine-containing pork to be labeled, asking how consumers could discern whether pork served at diners and food stalls contained the substance.
It is indeed difficult to label and differentiate unpackaged products and ground meat, Chen said, adding that it takes cooperation among government agencies to execute inspections.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS