The Cabinet yesterday said it would create an agency modeled on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to strengthen inspection mechanisms and improve food and drug safety in the country, Minister of Department of Health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said.
At a press conference, Yeh relayed Premier Liu Chao-shiuan’s (劉兆玄) instructions made during the Cabinet meeting, where Yeh gave a second briefing on his department’s handling of the issue of melamine-tainted food products imported from China.
Yeh confirmed that three officials from China’s Zhongshi Duqing Biotech Co were in the country to confirm the claim by King Car Food Industrial Co that its products were contaminated because of imported materials from the Chinese company.
“King Car had sent two packs of the materials it bought from China back to Duqing for examination, but Duqing wanted to make sure that the melamine was not added into its products during their transportation from China to Taiwan,” Yeh said.
Asked if the government would help King Car Co seek compensation from Duqing while its officials are in Taiwan, Yeh said that compensation is “a business matter between King Car and Duqing.”
But he said that if King Car Co needs help from the government, the Straits Exchange Foundation would talk to its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
Yeh said that Liu also instructed his ministry to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council in preparation for the country’s bid for WHO membership next year.
The WHO’s recent sharing of melamine-related information with its members based on the International Health Regulations again proved that Taiwan’s participation in the organization is a necessity, Yeh said.
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
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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
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