The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday called on people to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers who pushed through executive directives to ease restrictions on US pork imports and to “thwart President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) dictatorship through a referendum.”
Although ractopamine is banned for use in pigs in Taiwan because of concerns over its safety to animals and humans, Tsai on Aug. 28 announced that Taiwan would open up to imports of US beef from cattle 30 months or older and pork with acceptable levels of the leanness-enhancing drug.
The DPP, which holds 61 of the 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan, on Thursday pushed through the nine directives.
Photo: CNA
DPP lawmakers blocked opposition proposals to amend the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) and the School Health Act (學校衛生法) to ban ractopamine in food products, saying that the directives are sufficient to ensure food safety.
The policy, which is to go into effect on Friday next week, is widely viewed as an effort by the government to satisfy US prerequisites for negotiations on a bilateral trade deal.
Lawmakers from the KMT, the Taiwan People’s Party and the New Power Party objected to the policy, citing health concerns.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday that under the leadership of Tsai — the “ractopamine pork president” — almost all DPP lawmakers have turned a blind eye to public objections, even though they are elected representatives.
Wang cited a poll conducted by the KMT-affiliated National Policy Foundation last month that showed 70.6 percent of respondents opposed imports of pork products containing ractopamine residue.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) threatened to discipline DPP legislators Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬), Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) and Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌) because they refused to follow voting directions, Wang said.
Other DPP lawmakers made ridiculous arguments, including DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), who said that blocking US pork products might create trade barriers for Taiwan and benefit China, Wang said, asking what China has to do with the issue.
Tsai has become a dictator and even refuses to acknowledge her own inconsistency regarding importing products with ractopamine, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy chairwoman Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said, urging people to put a check on the DPP administration’s arrogance.
KMT Institute of Revolutionary Practice director Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) called on people to recall Wu and sign the KMT’s referendum petition to block pork products containing traces of the additive.
While restrictions on US pork products are to be lifted next week, the KMT’s referendum, if it is passed on Aug. 28, would force the government to stop such imports, Lo said.
The referendum, which was initiated by KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), asks people if they agree that the government should ban imports of all pork products containing leanness-enhancing substances, including ractopamine.
The Central Election Commission on Friday last week said that Lin’s referendum proposal met legal requirements and could start to gather signatures to meet the threshold of 290,000 needed in the second stage.
Additional reporting by CNA
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS