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
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