Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislative Yuan Convener Lin Wei-chou (林為州) yesterday filed charges against Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) for allegedly spreading false information related to statements on US pork imports, police said.
The Taipei Police Department’s Zhongzheng First Precinct said it had received Lin’s charges that Su allegedly breached the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) and the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) when he allegedly said that a Pingtung County company supported the government’s decision to allow imports of US pork with traces of ractopamine.
The charges were filed with the police as social order maintenance breaches fall within its jurisdiction.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
In response to questions from KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), Su on Tuesday said that Sings Kout Trading Co supported the government’s lifting of a ban on US pork containing the leanness-enhancing drug, leading the company to issue a statement that it did not support the decision, Lin said.
Su does not have legislative immunity and his comments constitute spreading false information, Lin said.
The Executive Yuan yesterday issued a statement calling for the KMT not to twist Su’s words and mislead the public.
Executive Yuan Secretary-General Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said Su and Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) had said that businesses were supportive of the government efforts and aid for Taiwanese pork exports.
“They never mentioned ‘pork importers support the importation of pork with ractopamine,’” Li said, adding that Legislative Yuan recordings would be opened for review.
Li said that the incident was political manipulation, and that the government and the pork industry share the same goal of increasing Taiwanese pork competitiveness and exports.
The Pingtung County Fire Department on Wednesday performed an inspection at Sings Kout and the county’s Bureau of Labor Affairs also contacted the company, leading KMT lawmakers to say they suspected the inspection was in retaliation for the company’s statement.
However, Sings Kout on Thursday said that it had on Friday last week arranged for a fire equipment inspection and that the incident had been a coincidence.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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