Opposition lawmakers yesterday called on the government to implement more robust policies to better protect Taiwan from Chinese economic and military aggression.
Citing China’s ban on products from 100 Taiwanese companies announced on Monday, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) said the government should implement four measures to better protect agricultural producers.
It should establish a dedicated consulting and counseling unit, and a dedicated hotline to provide assistance to affected businesses, he said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
It should also expand overseas markets for Taiwanese products, improve inspection of agricultural products before export and negotiate agricultural trade agreements with several nations, he said.
The largest market for many of Taiwan’s agricultural and fisheries products is China, TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said, citing groupers and beltfish, 90 percent of which are sold to China.
The proportion of mackerel sold to China has also increased from 49 percent last year to 72 percent this year, he said.
In response, Bureau of Foreign Trade Deputy Director-General Lee Guann-jyh (李冠志) said the government is diversifying export markets of products such as processed foods, of which the US buys 30 percent, while China buys only 12 percent.
Council of Agriculture Department of International Affairs Deputy Director Lin Chih-hung (林志鴻) said his office is also busy working on expanding overseas markets.
It is providing incentives and subsidies for grouper sales to overseas markets and had already exported 151 tonnes of the fish as of Sunday, he said, adding that it is aiming for 300 tonnes by the end of the year.
The proportion of fresh fruit sold to China was also reduced to 41 percent last year from 84 percent the year before, he said.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators urged the government not to employ an “anti-China protectionist” economic policy as a tactic to perform well in the local elections in November.
The government should provide necessary assistance and subsidies to companies, farmers and fishers affected by China’s import bans, KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
“The government should assume that China would take retaliatory economic measures one after another, and should put forward a specific plan and to assist affected industries,” he said.
The government should restore the 2008 Cross-Strait Food Safety Agreement (海峽兩岸食品安全協議) and reopen cross-strait channels of communication as soon as possible, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lee De-wei (李德維) said.
KMT Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) criticized a rural tourism lottery implemented by the Council of Agriculture as a means of boosting revenue for farmers, saying the measure was far from adequate.
“The council should appeal to the WTO and fight for Taiwanese farmers’ and fishers’ rights,” he said.
UNDER WATCH: Taiwan will have to establish a standardized nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus and monitor its spread, the CDC said The Langya henipavirus, which can be transmitted from animals to humans, has been discovered in China, with 35 human infections reported so far, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, adding that the nation would establish a nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus. A study titled “A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China” that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday said that a new henipavirus associated with a fever-causing human illness was identified in China. The study said an investigation identified 35 patients with acute infection of the Langya henipavirus in China’s Shandong
If any war were to break out between the US and China, one trigger might be the increasingly frequent fighter jet encounters near Taiwan. Almost every day, Taiwanese fighter pilots hop in their US-made F-16s to intercept Chinese warplanes screaming past their territory. The encounters probe the nation’s defenses and force the pilots on both sides to avoid mistakes that could lead to a crisis that spins out of control. “I didn’t know whether they would fire at me,” said retired colonel Mountain Wang, recounting a tense five-minute confrontation he had with Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) jets more than a decade
RESTRICTION EASED: Passengers would no longer be directed to designated waiting areas, and be allowed to shop and dine, the operator of the airport said International travelers transiting at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport would from today be allowed to go shopping and dine in the airport’s departure areas, the airport operator said, as the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) eased some border restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said reopening borders is a global trend, and since reallowing transit passengers from June 15, the airport has continued to review its procedures to improve services and efficiency. Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, inspected the airport on July 22, while Deputy Minister of Transportation and
BLOCKADE RUNNERS: The military should prepare to cope with a possible blockade of Taiwan, and the latest drills give China a new basis for exercises, security experts said Taiwan should pay close attention to whether China will normalize military drills around the nation, experts said yesterday, adding that the military must devise coping strategies. China from Thursday to yesterday conducted its largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan in retaliation for a visit last week by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. Although the nation’s armed forces have won public support by condemning the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for bullying Taiwan, the military should bolster its capabilities, Institute of National Defense and Security Research research fellow Su Tzu-yun
RSS