CUSTOMS
Japanese items intercepted
Seven shipments of food items imported from Japan, including fresh kumquats and strawberries, were intercepted at Taiwan’s border after being found to contain excess pesticide or preservative residues, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The seven items were among 16 imported items intercepted at the border in the past few weeks for containing excess or banned pesticides, or failing to meet import requirements, according to a weekly list of intercepted items the FDA published yesterday, including Chinese cabbage from South Korea, broccoli from Vietnam and blueberries from Peru. The seven batches of Japanese foods were four shipments of kumquats, one of fresh strawberries, one of hojicha powder, a roasted Japanese tea, and one of kiwifruit, the list showed. Two of the four intercepted batches of kumquats, which were imported by Tong Ho Fruit Co, and one imported by Kingo Fruits Co, were found to contain flubendiamide, a banned insecticide, and isofetamid, a banned fungicide, while the fourth shipment, imported by Greather Fruit Trading Co, contained isofetamid, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said. All the intercepted shipments were either returned to their country of origin or destroyed at the border, the agency said.
Photo: Screen grab from the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site
CHARITY
Zenan laments shortfall
The Zenan Homeless Social Welfare Foundation’s annual fundraising campaign to solicit allowances and provide food for financially disadvantaged people across Taiwan has only reached 40 percent of its goal this year, the Taipei-based group said in a statement, citing a spell of cold weather as a factor in the lack of donations. Poverty-stricken people might starve due to the insufficient funding, the foundation said. It plans to hand “gift packages” — containing food — and “red envelopes” to homeless people, single mothers, destitute elderly people and students from financially disadvantaged families from Jan. 13 to 24 ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Jan. 25, the foundation said. Each gift package costs NT$800 and the red envelopes contain NT$600, it said. People can donate via the foundation’s Web site, https://reurl.cc/Eg6enm, by calling (02) 2836-1600, ext. 293, or through a post office bank transfer to Zenan Homeless Social Welfare Foundation’s (人安基金會) account, 19695227, it said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Free Apple TV+ offered
Access to Apple TV+ would be free in Taiwan from Friday to Sunday as part of a worldwide promotion, Apple Inc said yesterday in a statement on its Web site. Anyone with an Apple ID would be able to log in on compatible devices to all Apple TV+’s services during the promotional period, it said.
POLITICS
Fu Kun-chi keeps post
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi is to remain leader of the party’s caucus after no one else registered to oppose the lawmaker by the deadline yesterday afternoon. Only Fu registered to be considered for caucus whip, while only Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) registered to run as deputy secretary-general, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) said. An election is to be held on Jan. 21, Lin said. However, as there is to be no competition, Fu would continue as whip, while Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) would take over as secretary-general and Lo is to become deputy secretary-general, Lin added.
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
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
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