The Council of Agriculture yesterday signed a Taiwan-Australia Agricultural Cooperation Implementation clause to open a new export market for the nation’s pineapple crop.
The clause is an addition to existing cooperation measures, it said.
China on Friday last week abruptly announced that it would suspend pineapple imports from Taiwan starting on Monday, on grounds that it had on multiple occasions discovered “harmful organisms” in shipments of the fruit.
The public and private sectors have since joined hands to purchase the local fruit to help the nation’s pineapple farmers.
Canberra has requested that all pineapples for export to Australia have their crown buds removed, the council said.
Taiwan last year developed a method to remove the crown bud without causing the fruit to rot or grow moldy, it said, adding that the fruits would be fumigated to prolong their freshness.
The council said that it expects to ship 6 tonnes of pineapples by sea freight, with the first shipment scheduled for May, while smaller quantities would be sent by air cargo.
The clause would bolster agricultural trade, investment and exchange of agricultural technologies between Taiwan and Australia, it said.
The clause was signed separately by council Deputy Secretary-General Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) and Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment Deputy Secretary David Hazlehurst in Taipei and Canberra respectively.
Taiwan and Australia have worked with each other since the signing of a memorandum of understanding for agriculture and agricultural corporations collaboration in 2001, the council said.
Collaborative efforts include the exchange and recognition of each other’s food safety information, as well as the Queensland state government’s assistance in promoting the production of Taiwanese lychee and bananas resistant to fusarium wilt, it said.
The clause seeks to approach issues from a new angle and integrate resources to meet new potential problems, the council said.
Regular official meetings aside, Taipei and Canberra hope to hold more academic and business forums to encourage visits to Taiwanese and Australian industries, as well as other events, to promote the sales of produce, it said.
The nation hopes to establish a trustworthy and effective foodstuff and produce supply chain with Australia, the council said.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be