A woman’s appeal against a NT$200,000 fine imposed for bringing meat products into Taiwan and failing to apply for import quarantine inspection last year was rejected, but she was given permission to pay the fine in installments, the Ministry of Justice’s Administrative Enforcement Agency said on Monday, while separately a Ministry of Agriculture official said people should not bring meat products from other countries into Taiwan due to the risk of African swine fever (ASF).
A retired teacher surnamed Yang (楊) was in July last year stopped at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport trying to bring two long sushi rolls containing ham from Hong Kong and fined NT$200,000 by quarantine authorities due to the risk of ASF.
The case was transferred to the New Taipei Branch of the Administrative Enforcement Agency the following month.
Photo: CNA
Yang filed an appeal against the fine saying that she and her husband took their daughter who has panic attacks to Disneyland in Hong Kong last July in an attempt to help relieve stress, the agency said in a statement.
Yang said when at Hong Kong International Airport to take their flight to Taiwan, her daughter got hungry and Yang bought two long sushi rolls — one for her daughter to eat and one for relatives in Taiwan, it said.
Yang said she thought sushi rolls only had seaweed and vegetables, and did not know they contained meat until a sniffer dog detected it, according to the statement.
Yang’s appeal against the fine was rejected and she asked to pay it in monthly installments of NT$10,000.
The agency approved her request to pay in installments, taking into account Yang’s retired status and limited income.
As the Lunar New Year holiday approaches, the Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday said people should not bring meat products from other countries into Taiwan due to the risk of ASF.
ASF is found in 79 countries and since the first reports of the virus in China in August 2018, there has been an increased concern over the spread of the disease in Asia, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIA) Deputy Director-General Hsu Jung-pin (徐榮彬) told a news conference on Tuesday.
Taiwan and Japan are the only ASF-free countries in East Asia, Hsu added.
From August 2018 to Jan. 15, of the 6,795 meat products tested, 639 came back positive for ASF, including 529, or 83 percent, from China, Hsu said.
The positive detection rate for the ASF virus reached a high of 9.89 percent among confiscated pork products from China, Hsu added.
ASF is a high-threat foreign animal disease that is highly transmissible and results in up to 100 percent mortality in swine.
Although the disease does not harm humans, it has the potential to hurt Taiwan’s pork industry, the APHIA said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
RSS