Pan-green parties are expected to stage different boycotts today against Premier Sean Chen's (陳冲) policy report to the legislature over a dispute on loosening restrictions on imports of US beef containing traces of the animal feed additive ractopamine.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said it would respond to Chen’s address on the opening day of the new session of the legislature with a “strong and determined boycott,” while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said it would boycott “in some form.”
“Public health is always the No. 1 priority for the TSU and we will not give an inch on the issue,” Huang told a press conference.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
However, the TSU did not disclose how it would launch the boycott with its limited representation — it only has three seats in the 113-seat legislature.
Huang said Taiwan had banned ractopamine for health reasons, and that those health concerns had not disappeared overnight. He said he suspected that, to gain US support during his re-election campaign, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had pledged that his government would lift the ban.
The TSU said on Wednesday it would give the premier 48 hours to make a pledge not to allow meat imports containing the feed additive or it would boycott Chen’s report to the legislature.
Chen has not responded to the ultimatum.
The TSU and the DPP say the Ma administration is ready to lift the ban on the drug, which is given to cattle, pigs and chickens to promote leanness in meat. The parties said the Ma government would allow imports of US beef and pork containing the additive, despite reiterating that it had no timetable or position on the issue.
The DPP reaffirmed its opposition to lifting the ban in a legislative caucus meeting yesterday, DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said.
The party does not rule out a boycott of Chen’s report, pending the results of party negotiations hosted by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) this morning, Pan said.
“The DPP is ready to deal with every possible situation. If you want me to describe the potential clash between the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and the opposition, I can only tell you: A storm is brewing,” DPP whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said the DPP caucus would submit a legislative proposal to ban the drug after further consultation with experts.
Representatives of pig farmers, academics and DPP lawmakers, including Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), Mark Chen (陳唐山), Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) and Yao Wen-chih (姚文智), said at a separate press conference yesterday that they would stage a protest on May 20 if the Ma administration lifts the ban on ractopamine.
The representatives cited findings from domestic experiments and an EU warning on the drug, saying that the use of ractopamine could lead to a higher mortality rate among pigs and heart failure among greyhounds.
Meanwhile, Sean Chen yesterday continued to defend the government’s cautious efforts in handling the US beef issue and promised to make public health the key priority, while striving to reach a domestic consensus, before a final decision is made.
Addressing a KMT administrative and legislative branch meeting, the premier dismissed opposition concerns about lifting the ban on ractopamine and insisted that the government would strike a balance between public health and the development of related industries.
“There are debates among experts about the health hazard of ractopamine. We are discussing the issue with experts and there are no premises ... The government will not allow US beef imports if there are doubts, and public health remains our top priority in handling the issue,” he said at KMT headquarters.
The government will maintain the ban on the use of -ractopamine in meat products and there is no timetable on the issue, he said.
Civic groups have raised concerns over the transparency of the Cabinet’s inter-ministerial meeting on the issue and expressed doubts about the government’s stance following a promise by Ma to the US after his re-election that the new Cabinet would address the US beef imports issue immediately after assuming office.
Ma, who attended yesterday’s meeting in his capacity as KMT chairman, did not address the issue.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash