Lawmakers yesterday unanimously approved an amendment to categorize rice wine as cooking wine, a move that has provoked concerns in the EU and US over a possible breach of Taiwan’s compliance with its WTO obligations.
The revision to the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act (菸酒稅法) will lower the tax on a 600ml bottle of rice wine to NT$5.4 per bottle, from NT$29.25 when it was previously defined as “distilled liquor” as requested by the WTO. In turn, this will reduce the price of the popular cooking ingredient to NT$25 per bottle.
The amendment also applies to imported cooking rice wine, meaning that local products will not be receiving preferential treatment.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-dominated legislature also approved by vote an amendment initiated by the party to revise the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), criticized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as serving KMT interests.
The revised act stipulates that the boundary demarcation of constituencies from the seventh legislative term should be applied to next year’s election and that the boundaries only be reviewed every 10 years.
The move would annul a proposal drafted by the government under which the number of seats in Greater Tainan would see a one-seat increase in the next legislative term, while the number of districts in Greater Kaohsiung would have one less seat than in the current legislative term.
DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) accused the KMT of sacrificing the interests of people in Greater Tainan for the sake of the party, as the KMT thought it would be easier for the party to have its lawmakers elected in Kaohsiung than in Tainan, traditionally a DPP stronghold.
Lai said that as the population of Greater Tainan exceeds 1.8 million, it is entitled by Article 4 of the Constitution to an additional seat.
KMT Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said the revision was to ensure the constituency boundaries would not be changed too often.
The DPP failed in another vote to add changes to the Amendments to the Act Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) introduced by the KMT.
According to the amended act, all preferential treatment given to former presidents and vice presidents who are convicted in a first trial over charges of sedition, treason and corruption would be suspended. At present, that treatment will not be suspended until a final verdict is given. The number of bodyguards assigned to former presidents and vice presidents who are convicted of corruption in a first trial will also be reduced.
Also See: Taiwan faces tough WTO fight to slash rice wine tax
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS