Ahead of a rumored visit by a senior US official, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday called on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to “let the US understand Taiwanese’s insistence on food safety.”
Speaking at a weekly meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee in Taipei, Chiang cited media reports as saying that US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach is to arrive with a delegation to Taiwan today.
“As the main opposition party, we, on the one hand, welcome the undersecretary’s visit, and look forward to the Republic of China and the US continuing to maintain a solid and long-lasting friendship, and transforming that friendship into substantial and reciprocal policies to avoid such a friendship from changing due to changes in circumstances,” he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“On the other, I would like to remind the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] administration that it should faithfully convey the thoughts of Taiwanese and let the US understand Taiwanese’s insistence on food safety,” he said.
“If the DPP is as close to the US as it claims to be, the DPP should help Taiwanese tell the US their food safety concerns over fully allowing imports of pork with leanness-enhancing agents,” he said. “However, I must also emphasize here that the balance of the trilateral relationship between Taiwan, the US and mainland China is an important key to maintaining national security.”
Following an announcement by Tsai on Aug. 28 that Taiwan would ease restrictions on imports of US pork containing ractopamine and beef from cattle aged 30 months or older, the KMT on Saturday last week launched a nationwide drive to collect signatures for its proposed referendum on food safety.
The proposed referendum reads: “Do you agree that the government should completely ban the importation of meat, offal and related products from pigs that contain leanness-enhancing agents [ractopamine and other beta-agonists]?”
Over the weekend, the KMT collected nearly 20,000 signatures, Chiang said.
At a presidential election debate on Dec. 29 last year, Tsai told People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) that she was willing to give an annual “State of the Union” address if invited by the Legislative Yuan, Chiang said.
“We urge Tsai Ing-wen, the current president, not to contradict last year’s Tsai Ing-wen, the presidential candidate,” he said.
Chiang called on Tsai to become the “first president of the Republic of China to deliver a ‘State of the Union’ address at the Legislative Yuan,” and to “bravely accept” lawmakers’ oversight and questions.
In other news, the British Office Taipei is encouraging Taiwanese to purchase British pork products, which do not contain ractopamine because the UK has banned it.
Since allowing British pork into the country two years ago, Taiwan has imported more than £10 million (US$13 million) of the products, the office wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Raising hogs in the UK is based on animal welfare and environmental protection standards, with 40 percent of its pigs being raised outdoors and without growth hormones, it added.
British Representative to Taiwan Catherine Nettleton on Monday attended an event in Taipei to promote British pork, it wrote, adding that it was hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce in Taipei and the British Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.
The event sought to help local supermarket retailers and hotel caterers appreciate the flavor of British pork products in various cuisines, it added.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
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