The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged the public to join a protest in Taipei on Sunday against the government’s decision to allow the imports of US pork products with residue of the animal feed additive ractopamine.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that Taiwan would ease restrictions on Jan. 1 on imports of US pork containing traces of ractopamine, as well as beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.
While Tsai’s government has said that people can choose not to consume pork products containing ractopamine, it is unwilling to require labeling that would clearly indicate whether a product contains the additive, KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), a co-convener of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
It is only willing to require country of origin labeling for pork products, but people cannot tell from such labeling alone whether a product contains the additive, Chiang said.
Without a way to tell whether ractopamine is present, people do not have the right to choose whether to consume the product, he said.
He urged people to come out on Sunday to “bravely stand up and say ‘no’” to pork containing ractopamine for the health and safety of themselves and of the next generation.
Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times
The KMT also released a video asking people to join Sunday’s protest.
The video featured KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and local government heads, including New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).
Supporters should gather at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei at 12:30pm, wearing black shirts and masks, the KMT wrote on Facebook.
There would be a march from the memorial to the Presidential Office Building, the Executive Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters, it said.
In related news, Johnny Chiang said in a radio interview earlier in the day that polls conducted by the KMT and some media outlets have found that the DPP is “moving further away from mainstream public opinion.”
Support for the KMT has increased over the past six months, and the latest survey conducted by the KMT found that levels of support for the two parties were “very close,” he said.
He said that he believed the DPP is also aware of the trend.
Asked about next year’s KMT chairperson election and possible challengers, he said that “as long as it [multiple candidates] is good for the party, I think we do not need to look at it negatively.”
The KMT chairperson election is typically held between May and July, he said.
‘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
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS