President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday promoted pineapples along with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) local government heads from southern Taiwan.
China on Friday last week announced that from Monday it would suspend imports of Taiwanese pineapples, citing concerns about harmful organisms found on the fruits. The import ban accounts for nearly 10 percent of Taiwan’s annual pineapple production, but the amount was offset after the public and private sectors joined forces to purchase the fruit.
The party has set up a “pineapple national team,” Tsai, who is the DPP chairperson, told a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
She urged Taiwanese to consume fresh pineapples and pineapple-based products.
Tsai was joined by the heads of local government from Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well Chiayi and Pingtung counties, which are the nation’s main pineapple production regions.
DPP officials at the event presented fresh pineapples and a variety of finished products, including pineapple cakes, pineapple jam, pineapple toast, as well as vinegar, wine, sauce, and cosmetics and health food products made from the fruit.
Tsai thanked Taiwanese for helping pineapple farmers over the past few days, saying: “Taiwan will stand together in unity, as people face unreasonable actions in international trade.”
“A number of foreign embassies and representative offices have expressed their support for Taiwanese pineapples, so we wish to thank all our international friends for their support, as well our citizens for uniting to help the nation’s pineapple growers,” Tsai said.
The pineapple harvest gets under way later this month and continues for several months, she said, adding that now is the time to place orders.
People could buy additional pineapples during the harvest season to help pineapple farmers overcome the challenge, she added.
“A crisis also creates new opportunities. When facing challenges, Taiwan never gets knocked down. We take them on and grow stronger,” she said. “Taiwanese came together to support hardworking farmers and their high-quality products. The international community will also stand with Taiwan.”
SUPPORT BASES
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that “the DPP has important support bases in southern Taiwan, which overlaps with pineapple production areas, so it is natural for DPP supporters to eat pineapples, and when China lashes out against our pineapples, we have to join forces.”
Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said: “Pingtung is the locomotive driving Taiwan’s pineapple production and is to enter harvest season next week. When China banned Taiwan pineapple imports on Friday, we immediately prepared containers of pineapples to ship to Japan.”
Pingtung also produces a variety of processed pineapple products, Pan said, urging people to buy pineapples at intervals over the coming months to ensure they have the freshest, top-quality pineapples.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
RSS