Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) yesterday defended the council’s decision to set up an agricultural export platform, rejecting criticism from Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who said it would be a misuse of resources.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday approved the council’s proposal to establish the platform, named “Team Taiwan,” to promote agricultural exports.
Han yesterday said the council’s move was “wrong-headed.”
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
Han was director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Kaohsiung chapter from 2017 to last month and general manager of Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corp from 2013 to 2017.
Han said that the council had spent NT$1 billion (US$32.4 million at the current exchange rate) to establish Mitagri Co, but it is questionable whether the company has expanded export channels.
Government officials should not create useless positions to give their own people salaries, he said.
The council did not spend a penny to establish the company, but only provided it with technical counseling, Department of International Affairs Deputy Director-General Lin Chia-jung (林家榮) said, adding that Mitagri’s shareholders are all private firms.
Chen said in a live-streamed video on the council’s Facebook page that Team Taiwan differs from Mitagri, as it aims to bring farmers, farmers’ cooperatives, exporters, and local and central governments together to facilitate marketing, logistics, cooling and quarantine techniques for 30 agricultural products.
Chen said that he is willing to visit local municipalities to explain the policy if Han or other government officials have questions about the platform.
The nation’s agricultural export revenue last year reached a 20-year high of US$5.47 billion, while the council expects to bring it to US$6 billion this year, he said.
While the Chinese market is not yet replaceable by any other single market, the council aims to scatter investment risk by exploring less-charted markets, such as the Middle East, Russia and nations covered by the New Southbound Policy, the department said.
Asked to comment on Han’s criticism, Mitagri chairman Chen Yu-jan (陳郁然) said in a text message to the Taipei Times that he would not make a statement, while asking why it was Han’s place to assess the company’s contributions.
Additional reporting by Wang Jung-hsiang
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
RSS