Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of taking a passive attitude over the lifting of a ban on the import of US pork products containing ractopamine residue.
Chiang told a weekly KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei that the party had yet to receive a formal response from the Presidential Office to its invitation — delivered on Nov. 24 — for a public debate between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and himself over the easing of the import ban.
“Politically, the president’s evasive attitude is clear,” while the DPP’s attitude has been “passive” ever since Tsai announced in August that the ban would be eased, he said.
The DPP clearly lacks sincerity about communicating with opposition parties and the public, and both the party’s attitude and approach are not what they should be when it comes to promoting a controversial policy, he said.
Tsai’s government had also not responded to a hunger strike by former legislator Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧), a member of the KMT Central Standing Committee, which was another sign of the DPP’s “refusal to communicate,” he said.
Chiang said that he hoped that Shen’s “determination to defend food safety can be conveyed to all Taiwanese.”
Shen started her hunger strike and sit-in outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Saturday last week to protest the government’s decision to allow US pork imports with ractopamine from Jan. 1.
She was taken by ambulance to a hospital at about 11:30am yesterday at the recommendation of a doctor.
“At a final critical moment, we urge all Taiwanese to use multiple ways to reflect public opinion and to demand that the legislators they elected stand on the side of public opinion,” Chiang said.
“We also remind DPP lawmakers that they should bravely reject ‘kidnapping’ by the party’s will, faithfully acknowledge the importance attached by the public to food safety, and use their vote to protect the health of future generations,” he said.
A KMT member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the party might mobilize its supporters to rally outside the Legislative Yuan on Thursday next week, the Central News Agency reported yesterday.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS