If the livestock feed additive ractopamine is proven harmful to humans, the ban on meat products containing residues of the drug should not be lifted, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday.
Addressing the hot-button issue of ractopamine on the first day of a three-day visit to Yunlin County, Lee said he did not understand why President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was in a hurry to have a bill easing import restrictions on US beef containing ractopamine clear the legislature.
The 89-year-old politician said a buyer has the right to decide if he or she wants to make the purchase, and it is not for the seller to decide which product the consumer should buy.
“In this case, Taiwan is the buyer and the US is the seller, and it seems to me that we are now begging the US to sell us the products. It does not make sense,” Lee said in response to journalists’ questions. “The US is not the only country producing beef. We have other options.”
The priority is making an assessment on ractopamine’s impact on humans, which would be the responsibility of the Department of Health and the Council of Agriculture, he said, adding it would not be difficult for the government to investigate which US farms use ractopamine and which do not.
Lee said Taiwan could negotiate with the US about a free-trade agreement under the WTO framework if Taiwan finds a FTA is more desirable.
“The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement [TIFA] is not related to the FTA,” Lee said.
The Ma administration is dealing with the US beef issue without a country-to-country strategy and preparation, Lee said.
Lee’s trip to Yunlin is his third visit to southern Taiwan after recovering from cancer surgery in November last year.
Speaking to about 300 students at TransWorld University in Douliou City (斗六), Lee shared with them his life philosophy and reminisced about his life before he entered politics.
Coming from a landowning family, Lee said he was fortunate enough to enjoy freedom and things others could not have as a child, such as an encyclopedia for children, but that was also why he started to think about social justice at a young age.
“I began to think about who I was and why people have different lives,” Lee said, adding that he has been asking himself the question ever since and this inspiration was perhaps why he entered politics.
He encouraged the students to pose the same question to themselves and never stop asking the question, because traditional Chinese culture and Confucianism “never teaches you to ask this question.”
Lee also spoke about three books that had a profound impact on his life: The Priest and his Apprentice by Japanese essayist Hyakuzo Kurata, Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Sartor Resartus by Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle.
As for leadership, Lee highlighted the importance of faith and said that too many politicians and leaders around the world, including those in Taiwan, spend their time in a popularity contest, rather than solving problems for the people.
Lee is scheduled to talk about his political philosophy in a speech today at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS