The Council of Agriculture (COA) aims to submit a draft amendment to the Plant Variety and Plant Seed Act (植物品種及種苗法) to the Executive Yuan before the end of June, COA Deputy Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said yesterday.
The amendment would seek to prevent the outflow of endemic fruits and cultivars, and agricultural technologies to China.
The council announced the amendment in reaction to China’s ban on Taiwanese pineapple imports and the subsequent promotion of a domestically grown pineapple cultivar that was developed in Taiwan.
Beijing on Wednesday unveiled a slew of measures, dubbed the “the 22 Forestry and Agricultural Measures” by Taiwanese media, to attract Taiwanese agriculture professionals to China.
The measures would allow Taiwanese to buy land, obtain a farming-specific credit rating, receive subsidies and join trade organizations in several agricultural sectors, including forestry, and the cultivation of tea, fruits and flowers.
Chen said that the amendment would follow in Japan’s footsteps, the first country in the world to punish the unauthorized export of local flora.
The amendment would be discussed with all groups it would affect before it is sent it to the Executive Yuan for approval, Chen said.
The amendment would, if approved, be forwarded to the legislature.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said that she hoped the proposal would be discussed in the next legislative session.
The council should draw up a list of protected cultivars and technologies before next month, she said.
On Beijing’s 22 measures, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that the wording “beneficial for Taiwan” was willfully misleading, as they would only benefit China.
Over the past few years, Taiwan has worked toward diversifying its export markets and reducing its reliance on China, Lo said.
China’s ban on Taiwanese pineapples, which had passed even the most rigorous and strict examinations in Japan, is evidence that China is attempting to weaken Taiwan and gain its agricultural technologies and know-how, Lo said.
Noting that China’s agricultural sector is reeling after an armyworm infestation and its hog industry has not yet recovered from an outbreak of African swine fever, Lo said that Taiwanese should wary of anything China describes as beneficial to Taiwan.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods