The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged the public to join a protest in Taipei on Sunday against the government’s decision to allow the imports of US pork products with residue of the animal feed additive ractopamine.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that Taiwan would ease restrictions on Jan. 1 on imports of US pork containing traces of ractopamine, as well as beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.
While Tsai’s government has said that people can choose not to consume pork products containing ractopamine, it is unwilling to require labeling that would clearly indicate whether a product contains the additive, KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), a co-convener of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
It is only willing to require country of origin labeling for pork products, but people cannot tell from such labeling alone whether a product contains the additive, Chiang said.
Without a way to tell whether ractopamine is present, people do not have the right to choose whether to consume the product, he said.
He urged people to come out on Sunday to “bravely stand up and say ‘no’” to pork containing ractopamine for the health and safety of themselves and of the next generation.
Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times
The KMT also released a video asking people to join Sunday’s protest.
The video featured KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and local government heads, including New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).
Supporters should gather at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei at 12:30pm, wearing black shirts and masks, the KMT wrote on Facebook.
There would be a march from the memorial to the Presidential Office Building, the Executive Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters, it said.
In related news, Johnny Chiang said in a radio interview earlier in the day that polls conducted by the KMT and some media outlets have found that the DPP is “moving further away from mainstream public opinion.”
Support for the KMT has increased over the past six months, and the latest survey conducted by the KMT found that levels of support for the two parties were “very close,” he said.
He said that he believed the DPP is also aware of the trend.
Asked about next year’s KMT chairperson election and possible challengers, he said that “as long as it [multiple candidates] is good for the party, I think we do not need to look at it negatively.”
The KMT chairperson election is typically held between May and July, he said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS