Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday condemned the description of “toxic pork” and “deranged pork” by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians while campaigning against US meat imports in the run-up to a referendum.
“KMT politicians are on the one hand eating US beef and on the other hand insulting it,” DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said during yesterday’s legislative caucus briefing. “The KMT is doing this on China’s behalf, to turn Taiwan against the US.”
Tsai cited KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s statements opposing the Jan. 1 policy change allowing imports of US pork containing traces of the leanness-enhancing additive.
Chu allegedly made comments about US “toxic pork” and “deranged pork” in Hoklo, also known as Taiwanese, when speaking on the KMT’s opposition to the import of US pork products.
Tsai said that the DPP administration adhered to the measures set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a global organization that sets food standards, by allowing 10 parts per billion of ractopamine in pork and beef products.
“This is an important worldwide standard followed by the UN and the WHO, which most countries adhere to, including member nations of Trade and Investment Framework Agreements and other international trading bodies that Taiwan is applying to join as a member,” Tsai said.
“Chu knows these facts, but he is leading KMT to distort the truth and malign US pork,” he added.
“When Eric Chu was campaigning to be KMT chairman, he said he stands for a US-friendly approach. Then he said that US pork is ‘toxic,’” DPP legislative caucus director Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said.
“When Chu was the mayor of New Taipei City, he was not opposed to the rules [on US beef and pork imports]. This will have a boomerang effect and come back to strike the KMT,” Liu said.
Separately, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) in a social media post also criticized Chu’s comments.
Wang wrote that the KMT is being hypocritical, as former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had relaxed restrictions on US beef imports in 2012.
“I do not understand why the wealthy elites of the KMT are fighting against US pork and creating turmoil on this issue,” he wrote, adding that new guidelines have brought reciprocal benefits for Taiwan.
“We experienced a large increase in the export of Taiwanese agricultural products to the US,” he said.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) at the legislative caucus briefing criticized KMT lawmakers for demanding the resignation of Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) over last month’s fire at a residential building resulting in 46 deaths.
Lai said that the Kaohsiung City Government had provided assistance and relief to the victims, following up with pledges to increase inspections and conduct other follow-up work.
Lai and other DPP members said that Chu was the mayor of New Taipei City in 2015 at the time of a blaze at a water park that killed 15 people and injured 500 others.
They said that Chu did not resign and did not offer an apology for more than a year.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS