Recalls of Chinese dairy products widened worldwide on Thursday as the EU banned imports of baby food containing Chinese milk and more Asian countries pulled suspect products off shelves.
In addition to its ban, the EU called for tighter checks on other Chinese food imports.
“The measures will also impose an exclusive, total ban on all products originating from China for infants and young children, containing any percentage of milk,” said EU spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki.
“Tests will be carried out on all imported goods from China containing more than 15 percent milk powder and random testing will be done on such products already on the EU market,” Papadoulaki said.
Food safety experts in the EU, which imports about 19,500 tonnes of Chinese confectionary products, said there was only a limited risk in Europe from the food imports.
Increased controls introduced last week did not find any food imports tainted with abnormal levels of the industrial chemical melamine, but the European Commission said it was implementing the measures as a precaution in the face of the growing health scare.
Chinese baby formula tainted with melamine has been blamed for the deaths of four infants in China and the illnesses of 54,000 others. Melamine-tainted products have turned up in an increasing number of Chinese-made exports abroad — from candies to yogurt to rice balls.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
RSS