China has to rigorously inspect its exported products instead of taking Taiwan to task for adopting strict standards when inspecting hairy crab imports, Cabinet spokesman Shieh Jyh-wey (
Shieh was responding to remarks earlier the same day by a spokesman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Li Weiyi (
If the two sides of the Taiwan Strait cannot reach an agreement on the inspection criteria, it is certain that Taiwanese won't be able to enjoy the delicious crabs this year, Li said.
RESPONSE
In response, Shieh said that China has been too lax with its product inspections and that Taiwan has to be on guard against imports that could pose a health risk to the public.
Shieh said a lot of the inspections of Chinese products "may seem strict at first but later turn out to be too lax."
The Department of Health (DOH) has tightened inspections on imports of hairy crabs from China and banned inbound tourists from bringing in Chinese hairy crabs after some crabs were found to contain traces of the banned antibiotic nitrofuran, a cancer-causing substance, during tests last year.
STRICT
The DOH has come up with a set of 16 inspection criteria for hairy crabs from China, which are stricter than the existing WTO inspection standards adopted by Chinese quarantine authorities.
DOH officials said that there have not yet been any applications from crab importers to bring the hairy crabs into Taiwan this year.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about