Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) yesterday demanded an apology from China for allowing products contaminated with melamine to be exported to Taiwan.
“I hereby demand that the Chi-nese government apologize to us for the panic that the food safety problem in China has caused in Taiwan,” the premier said during a question-and-answer session at the legislature.
Liu made the remarks in re-sponse to a question from Demo-cratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) on whether the government would demand an apology from China over the issue.
It was discovered two weeks ago that 25 tonnes of milk pow-der imported from China’s Sanlu Group in June as an ingredient for food manufacturing con-tained dangerously high levels of melamine.
Last week, offi cials discov-ered that some Chinese non-dairy creamers and malt extract imports were also contaminated with the chemical, resulting in a massive recall of products.
Liu said the government had taken several steps to ensure food safety in the wake of the dairy product scare, including dispatch-ing a delegation of health experts to China in a bid to establish a cross-strait food emergency chan-nel as well as food safety mecha-nisms that would be acceptable to both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
“The government’s policy is clear,” he said. “That is, the safety of all products on the nation’s store shelves must be ensured.”
The delegation returned home on Monday after a three-day trip to Beijing.
Liu vowed to help local busi-nesses that have suffered losses because of the milk powder scan-dal seek compensation from the Chinese manufacturers through negotiation between the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
He said the government was still compiling information on the losses incurred by domestic busi-nesses, but estimated the losses could add up to between NT$7 billion (US$217.6 million) and NT$8 billion if all of the products that have been pulled off shelves needed to be destroyed.
The government was still con-ducting a thorough investigation into the Chinese products that have been seized by the Depart-ment of Health to determine the extent of the Chinese manufactur-ers’ liability, Liu said.
Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said at the question-and-answer session that about 1,000 bags of dairy in-gredients seized by her depart-ment had been confi rmed to have been contaminated by melamine.
However, she said, the depart-ment needed more proof that the tainted ingredients came from Chi-na’s Zhongshi Duqing (Shandong) Biotech Co before the government could seek compensation.
MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday the government would establish with ARATS an offi cial food-safety alert channel for health offi cials within one week.
Also See: DOH, experts fail to reach agreement on melamine、China arrests 27 over melamine
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS