Sixteen civic groups took to the streets of Taipei yesterday to demand the resignation of Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) over the Cabinet’s decision to push for a conditional lifting of a ban on imports of US beef containing a controversial feed additive.
About 70 members from the groups rallied in front of the Control Yuan before marching to the Executive Yuan, where they demanded Chen’s resignation over what they described as the government’s “hasty” decision to lift the ban on US beef containing residues of the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine.
While the government says “there are no reports that show ractopamine is unsafe, neither are there reports that show it is [safe],” Homemakers United Foundation president Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
She accused the government of only citing figures that favor its decision, while ignoring the fact that there are no reports that guarantee the safety of the drug.
“It was a very hasty decision made without thorough discussion and evaluation,” Chen said.
“The meeting held by the Council of Agriculture was a sham,” she said, referring to the council’s third interministerial meeting on ractopamine, which failed to deliver a clear statement on the drug’s safety.
The groups demanded that the premier step down and that the government ban all imports of products containing traces of ractopamine. The legislature should pass a law before March 20 to ban imports of such products, they added.
If the premier did not step down by the end of this month, the groups would launch a large-scale protest on April 1, said Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳), a representative of the Life Conservationist Association.
More than 100 civic groups will hold demonstrations around the country from next week, Ho added.
The Cabinet said on Monday evening that it was leaning toward allowing imports of US beef containing ractopamine residues as long as four principles were followed: there was a safe level of ractopamine in beef; the permits for importing beef and pork were kept separate; imported beef was clearly labeled and the import of internal organs was banned.
The Republic of China Swine Association said on Tuesday that more than 8,000 pig farmers would take part in a rally in Taipei today to protest against the import of US beef containing ractopamine.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS