Taiwan is tackling a ban on its grouper exports to China by increasing its funding for school lunches so that students can have at least one fish meal per month, the Ministry of Education said yesterday.
A ministry proposal to hike its school lunch funding by NT$600 million (US$20.07 million) was approved earlier in the day by the Cabinet, and the money is to be allocated from the budget for this fiscal year, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said.
The funds would be disbursed to help provide at least one meal per month containing local grouper at elementary and junior-high schools nationwide until the end of the year, Pan said.
Photo: CNA
Not all students currently have access to the highly nutritional grouper, and that was one of the reasons why the ministry put forth the proposal to fund the inclusion of the fish in school lunches, he said.
The ministry was also motivated to include the fish on the school lunch menu after Chinese authorities on June 13 imposed a ban on grouper imports from Taiwan due to alleged excessive residues of the antibiotic oxytetracycline and prohibited chemicals, Pan said.
It is “regrettable” that Taiwan’s high-quality produce and seafood are being subjected to “undue political pressure,” Pan said, joining the pushback by other Taiwanese officials, who have said China’s decision was politically motivated and a breach of international trade rules.
The increased funding for school lunches will benefit the students, as well as fish farmers who have been affected by China’s grouper ban, Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics has already allocated the additional NT$600 million approved by the Cabinet for the increased cost of school lunches, Lo said.
The ministry in May increased its subsidies for the inclusion of local produce in school lunches, from NT$6 per meal to NT$10 in urban areas, and to NT$14 in remote areas, ministry data showed.
In the first five months of this year, 92.75 percent of schools in remote areas were covered by the subsidy program, a sharp increase from 56.45 percent in 2020, ministry statistics showed.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with