Legislators across party lines slammed the Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday for turning a partially government-funded foundation into a promotional vehicle for Chinese agriculture.
The criticism followed a report in yesterday’s Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that the Rural Development Foundation (RDF) had switched from assisting agricultural development in foreign countries to promoting China’s agricultural policies.
The foundation’s Web site (www.rdf.org.tw) has just two sections on its homepage — “China’s Agricultural Information” and “China’s Agricultural Statistics” — and made no mention of Taiwan’s agriculture, the report said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Hwa-kuan (張花冠) said that soon after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, 85-year-old Ke Jin-chao (葛錦昭), a former council official, became the foundation’s chairperson.
“The foundation is ‘Sinicizing’ in the name of ‘internationalizing.’ Its Web site details the agricultural policies of each province of China. It has essentially become an outlet for China’s policies,” she said.
On Sunday Chang accused the foundation of serving as a vehicle to transfer Taiwan’s advanced agricultural technologies to China.
DPP caucus whip Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) demanded the foundation update its Web site immediately.
“I’m hurt that the foundation has nothing but information on China’s agriculture. It is funded by donations from the government, so it should speak for Taiwan, not China,” he said.
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) asked if the government was trying to promote Taiwan’s agriculture or China’s.
Meanwhile, Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Wang Cheng-teng (王政騰) told the legislature the government had commissioned the foundation to research information on Chinese agriculture to help cross-strait development. He denied accusations that it was a “white glove” through which the government could deal with Beijing.
“For cross-strait development, we feel that it is necessary to know each other’s [technologies and policies,]” Wang said.
The government provides about 0.24 percent of the RDF’s budget, Wang said, and the council only “supervises” the foundation.
Plans for the foundation to work with Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand are under way, Wang said.
But his comments failed to appease lawmakers.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said she “could not bear to listen to the excuse that the council was merely ‘trying to get to know Chinese policies.’”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said the foundation should change its name to the “China Rural Development Foundation.”
A proposal by KMT Legislator Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) calling on the council to provide details of its funding of the foundation since 1981 within a week was passed by the legislative session.
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS