President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated the government’s open stance on the US beef imports issue and insisted that his administration had not made any promises to the US, pledging not to risk public health over the issue.
“There are no presumptions or timetables in the matter and the government did not make any promises to the US. Some people have assumed that we would open up the country to US beef imports after the elections, but that is not true,” he said in Yunlin County.
The possibility of relaxing restrictions on US beef imports has led to heated debate across the political spectrum since the presidential election.
Photo: Huang Wen-huang, Taipei Times
Opposition lawmakers on Friday boycotted Premier Sean Chen's (陳冲) policy address for six hours until he promised not to lift a ban before June on US beef containing traces of the feed additive ractopamine without the legislature’s consent.
Ma said yesterday that Chen and the lawmakers reached a consensus on the issue and that the government would continue to prioritize public health and food safety.
Ma and vice president-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) traveled to Yunlin County, Chiayi County and Greater Tainan as they met with presidential election campaign staff to thank them for their dedication during the campaign.
Ma detailed the government’s policies in the previous four years and promised to facilitate reforms, while continuing to promote cross-strait relations during his second term.
“The next four years will be extremely important for Taiwan ... I will defend the sovereignty of the Republic of China and ensure” national security is protected when handling any issue that involves Taiwan’s national interests, he said in Yunlin.
Ma, in his capacity as KMT chairman, later traveled to Kinmen County as part of his post-election thanksgiving tour, and stayed a night at the family residence of Fujian Provincial Government Chairman James Hsueh (薛承泰).
The “home-stay” trip in Kinmen marked the first such trip Ma has made since he was re-elected last month.
He had stayed with farmers and small-business owners around the nation during the presidential campaign as part of his effort to understand local issues.
Ma has asked members of his new Cabinet to undertake home-stays and increase interaction with local residents.
Such trips would help them better understand issues of public concern, while allowing them to promote policies directly to the public, he told Cabinet officials during a meeting at KMT headquarters on Thursday.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS