It has been nearly seven years since the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, and Taiwan should lift its ban on food products from Japanese prefectures affected by the disaster based on principles of free trade and scientific data, Taiwan’s Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said in an interview.
Taiwan should come up with a policy that is based on the government’s years of food product testing and that takes into consideration what many developed countries in the West are doing about the situation, Hsieh said.
Following the disaster in March 2011, Taiwan imposed a ban on food imports from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures, fearing that they could contain radioactive substances.
This action was in line with global practices at the time, as 54 countries implementing restrictions on certain Japanese goods following the meltdown, but several countries have eased bans in recent years, Hsieh said.
The US announced in September last year and the EU in November that they would partially lift the ban on certain Japanese products imposed after the disaster.
As Taiwan is the third-largest importer of Japanese food, the Japanese government has asked Taipei to reconsider its ban on several occasions.
However, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has been sympathetic to the appeals, the idea has been met with strong public resistance.
Not long after the DPP took power in May 2016, there was talk of lifting the ban except for food products from Fukushima, but the plan was shelved after stiff opposition from civil groups and opposition parties.
Hsieh’s comments came after Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) recommended that the government ease rules on non-contaminated food products from Japan.
Amid these appeals, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) on Tuesday said that the government would look at three factors — public health, global standards and scientific data — in determining how it wants to move forward.
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
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
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
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS