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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS