The Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute has received temporary intellectual property protection for a new pineapple variety it developed in 2019, after registering the cultivar with the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries last year, the institute said on Tuesday.
The new variety, named Tainung No. 23, was developed by the institute’s Chiayi Agricultural Experiment Station, which has introduced 18 different pineapple varieties in Taiwan since 1934, beginning with Tainung No. 1.
The institute on Oct. 18 last year registered the pineapple with the Japanese ministry for intellectual property protection in the Japanese market, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute
The ministry on May 6 granted Tainung No. 23 temporary protection, the institute said, adding that further evaluation is to be conducted in Japan before deciding on full protection.
Intellectual property registration of new agricultural products prevents other vendors from marketing the new varieties as their own.
Tainung No. 23 has a mango fragrance, delicate taste and no apparent fibers, the institute said, adding that the variety has a long shelf life, making it suitable for export.
Japan has become the leading destination for exports of Taiwanese pineapples, after China banned imports of the Taiwanese fruit in February last year.
Of the 28,664 tonnes exported from Taiwan last year, 17,850 tonnes — 62.3 percent — went to Japan, Council of Agriculture statistics show.
China imported 50,168 tonnes of pineapples from Taiwan in 2019, and 41,661 tonnes in 2020.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by