Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) has solicited investment in the value-added agriculture industry in the nation’s planned free economic pilot zones and has aggressively promoted a future US-Taiwan bilateral investment agreement during a July 13 to 19 visit to the US, council officials said yesterday.
During Chen’s visit, he talked with US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on topics including strengthening agricultural and trade relations and agricultural cooperation between the two countries, said a council official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The two sides agreed during the meeting to strengthen cooperation in the development of agricultural technology, the promotion of the agricultural sector and trade in agricultural products, the official added.
Chen also met senators from five US agriculture-heavy states and eight members of the US House of Representatives, including US House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas and US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, the official said.
Chen exchanged views with US agricultural experts on issues such as Taiwan-US cooperation in improving food safety, developing techniques and strengthening personnel training in the agriculture and aquaculture sectors, the official said.
Chen introduced Taiwan’s policy in developing the value-added agricultural industry in the zones, with the aim of attracting US companies to invest in the industry in the zones with an eye to jointly venture into the Southeast Asian and Chinese markets.
In response to US concerns about the nation’s ban on beef offal and pork containing ractopamine, Chen was quoted by the official as saying that Taiwan will insist on barring imports of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing drug.
However, the official said Chen emphasized that the nation in 2012 had eased restrictions on US beef containing ractopamine residue.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS