Sun, Sep 05, 2010 page3

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
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  ■ LABOR

  Taiwan labor ‘mostly free’

  The Washington-based Freedom House has listed Taiwan as “mostly free” in a report on labor rights it released earlier this week. In “The Global State of Workers’ Rights: Free Labor in a Hostile World,” Taiwan and Japan, along with 36 other countries, were included in the “mostly free” group — the second best of five classifications used by the independent watchdog organization. South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and 38 other countries received the top ranking of “free”; China, Singapore, Afghanistan, Cambodia and 22 others were in the “repressive” group; and 14 countries including Myanmar, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam received the worst ranking of “very repressive.” After assessing trade unions and worker freedom in 165 countries, Freedom House said that one-third of the global population lives in societies in which “workers’ rights suffer a significant degree of repression.”

  ■AGRICULTURE

  COA thanks fruit buyers

  The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday expressed gratitude toward 16 enterprises and government units for purchasing overproduced fruit. Companies such as Yulon Group, First Bank, Quanta Computer and government ministries including the Ministry of National Defense bought 1,480 tonnes of bananas, papayas, guavas and oranges this year to help farmers handle the glut, the council said. Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Chen Wen-deh (陳文德) said measures have been taken to deal with the problem, including decreasing farm lands devoted to fruit. For example, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp has cut the amount of farmland it leases to banana farmers from 1,900 hectares in 2006 to 500 hectares this year, Chen said. Banana sales often slow in the domestic market in July and August because many other types of fruit are available in the summer, council officials said.

  ■AGRICULTURE

  Kinmen cattle shipped

  Fourteen yellow cattle bred on Kinmen were shipped to Taiwan proper on Friday, the first live cattle to be sent outside Kinmen since a 10-year ban came to an end at the end of last year. The ban was launched in 1999 because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, almost causing the collapse of Kinmen’s livestock industry. Before the ban, there were about 5,000 head of cattle in Kinmen, local breeder Hsueh Hseng-shen (薛承琛) said. “Kinmen paid a painful price” for an epidemic that resulted from smuggling cattle from China, he said. Hsueh said Kinmen was a perfect place to raise cattle thanks to Kaoliang Liquor distillery cellars, which provide high-quality feed — distillers’ grains — for livestock.

  ■TRADE

  Processed meats get nod

  The COA said yesterday that Taiwan would be able to sell about 50 types of processed meat products to China after the two sides complete negotiations on the quarantine and inspection of agricultural products. The 50 items will include cooked pork, chicken and dumplings, said Hsu Kuei-sen (許桂森), chief of the Animal Husbandry Department. However, Hsu said he was not sure when the arrangements on quarantine and inspection would be finalized. All 50 products would carry the certified agricultural standards (CAS) logo, he said, adding that the COA has registered Taiwan’s CAS logo in China twice over the past five years to prevent it from being used by Chinese businesses. Taiwan launched the CAS program in 1989 to promote its agricultural products.
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