A small group of bloggers and Internet users staged a “flash mob” protest in front of the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon to oppose the government’s decision to relax restrictions on US bone-in beef and beef products.
Chen Tai-yuan (陳泰源), who led the nine-strong protest, said yesterday was just the beginning of a long campaign and they hoped to stage at least one flash mob protest a day at mass rapid transit system (MRT) stations. Videos of the protests would be posted on YouTube, he said.
Chanting “Oppose toxic beef! Just say no! Relaunch negotiations,” participants in black lay on the ground for two minutes playing dead. They staged two protests, an hour apart.
Chen said they wore black to signify a funeral for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his administration, which he said had failed to protect the health of the public.
“Vegetarians can get mad cow disease,” he said. “There is a proven case in India.”
While the administration has reassured the public on the safety of US bone-in beef and beef products, Chen said he was not convinced.
“If it is safe, why did Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) say he would only eat US beef if President Ma eats it,” he said.
When asked whether he would eat US beef if Ma ate it in public to vouch for its safety, Chen said if Ma was willing to risk his own life that was his business.
Chen said he looked at the matter from two perspectives. One was whether US beef was safe and the other was how the administration had conducted its negotiations with Washington.
On the safety of US beef, Chen said Japan had sent food safety experts to the US to examine the slaughter of cattle younger than 20 months old and the expenses had been paid for by the US government. Taiwan, on the other hand, was conducting random checks at its own expense.
“Why? Are we second-class citizens or something?” he said. “Where is our dignity?”
Participants in yesterday’s protest said they supported the cause, but did not want their faces to be seen.
An 18-year-old who covered his face with a denim jacket said media exposure would not be good for his modeling career. Another participant wearing a surgical mask, black sunglasses and a baseball cap said he was not a supporter of the Democratic Progressive Party, but he believed in the ban on US bone-in beef. His position, however, ran counter to that of his company, a TV station.
Peng Lung-san (彭龍三), a motor scooter mechanic, lamented the fact that ordinary people were powerless, saying the government did whatever it wanted in its own interests.
Speaking from his own experience, Peng said the Taipei City Government had turned a deaf ear to his pleas not to demolish his apartment to make way for a new, bigger building complex. He said the city approved of such projects under the pretext of “urban planning.”
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS