Category: General

Opposition parties are urging that food items from Japan be tested for strontium-90 once the government’s controversial decision to lift a ban on food items from areas in Japan affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 takes effect.

New Power Party chairperson and lawmaker Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said the government only plans to test for three radioactive substances — iodine 137, cesium 134 and cesium 137 — once the ban is lifted, but strontium-90, a potential carcinogen, has been left out.

The party was not opposed to the new policy, Chen said, but it insisted that the necessary safeguards were in place and public hearings were held to answer public doubts, including not accounting for strontium-90.

In a written opinion contributed to the press conference, Tsai Chih-hung (蔡志宏), the former director of the Changhua Medical Alliance for Public Affairs, said strontium-90, unlike cesium-137, is not easily flushed from the body.

Instead, like calcium, it is incorporated into bones, and poses a long-term risk of cancers of the bone and bone marrow, Tsai said in also pushing for strontium-90 testing on food imports from the affected areas.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智) seemed to dismiss the NPP’s concerns later Thursday, however, saying that testing for I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 was adequate to safeguard food safety.

Many countries, including Taiwan, banned imports of food and agricultural items from five prefectures in Japan — Fukushima, Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi — soon after the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Those bans have been partially or fully lifted in recent years, though with stringent testing for the three main radionuclides released during the meltdown (I-131, Cs-134, and Cs-137).

The United States Food and Drug Administration said in an update on its response to the nuclear disaster in September 2021 that it also monitors other factors, including strontium-90, ruthenium-103 and ruthenium-106, as needed, indicating that strontium-90 could still be of concern.

The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), meanwhile, held a seminar Thursday to look at the risks and hazards of lifting the ban, and the strontium-90 issue was one of the issues on the agenda, with many in attendance calling for stricter controls at the products’ sources.

Former Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who has a Ph.D. in food science and technology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, also raised concerns about the danger of strontium-90.

He said it was particularly common in dairy products, and because of its 30-year half-life, had implications for children.

“If we ingest strontium-90, it stays in our bodies a long time. In a 10-year-old, it will still carry about 25 percent of its original danger when the child reaches 70-80 years old,” Hau said.

Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞), the former head of the Health Promotion Administration, expressed concern that long-term exposure to foods with strontium-90 and cesium-137 could created a greater risk of cancer than smoking.

She contended that large amounts of strontium-90 were released in the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown, and high strontium-90 residues remain present in seafood from the area.

Taiwan will have to pay a cost to prevent foods with radioactive substances from entering, putting pressure on various resources, including testing labs, without necessarily getting anything in return, she argued.

She and Hau both said Taiwan’s capacity to test for strontium-90 was limited because most of its equipment is geared to detecting gamma rays emitted by iodine and cesium rather than the beta rays emitted by strontium.

The Atomic Energy Council later responded that between its own facilities and those of two other groups, Taiwan could conduct 54 strontium tests per month.

Hau, who led a referendum initiative in November 2018 in which voters across Taiwan opposed lifting the ban by a 78-22 percent margin, and others said strict controls would be necessary once the lifting of the ban takes effect.

The best way to control radionuclides in foods from Japan, he said, would simply be to not let items from the nuclear disaster-affected areas in.

Because that may no longer be possible, however, Hau urged that the flow of such products be carefully managed from the source and that inspections be intensified to prevent any items containing radioactive substances from reaching Taiwanese consumers.

He also suggested that local governments provide clear labels to identify food processors, restaurants and hotels that are free of food from the five prefectures.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Taiwan’s population continued to decline, with the number of people falling by 0.84 percent year-on-year as of the end of January, according to the latest household registration statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on Thursday.

The total population stood at 23,349,666 at the end of January, down by 0.84 percent, or 198,967 people, from the same month last year, and a decrease of 0.11 percent, or 25,648 people, compared with December 2021, according to the MOI figures.

Among all administrative areas, Lienchiang County registered the largest year-on-year population growth at 2.72 percent, followed by Hsinchu County at 0.84 percent, and Kinmen County at 0.69 percent.

Taipei registered the biggest decline in population year-on-year, losing 3.2 percent of its residents, followed by Chiayi County which saw a drop of 1.25 percent in the number of its residents, and Nantou County, which registered a 1.22 percent decline, the data showed.

In January, there were 13,137 births and 15,954 deaths, with deaths exceeding births by 2,817, according to the MOI figures.

The 13,137 births in January translated into a crude birth rate of 6.62 per 1,000 of the population, a 36.83-percent increase from the same month last year but a 7.01-percent fall from the previous month.

As for the areas with the highest crude birth rates, Changhua County came in first at 9.29 births per 1,000 people, followed by Penghu County at 9.08 and Toayuan at 8.83.

Miaoli County registered the lowest crude birth rate with 4.53 births per 1,000 people, followed by Chiayi City with 4.72 and Pingtung with 4.93.

The crude death rate was 8.04 per 1,000 people in January, down 2.31 percent from a year earlier and 1.37 percent from the previous month.

Yunlin County had the highest crude death rate at 12.34 per 1,000 people, followed by Chiayi County at 11.97, and Hualien at 10.89.

Lienchiang County registered the lowest crude death rate with 2.59 deaths per 1,000 people, followed by Kinmen County with 5.57, and Hsinchu with 5.78, according to the data.

Taiwan’s population shrank for the first time on record in 2020, with 165,249 births and 173,156 deaths, according to the previous MOI data.

By the end of 2020, Taiwan’s population had dropped by 0.18 percent from 2019, at 23,561,236,

In 2021, the country saw its population fall for a second consecutive year, losing by 0.79 percent to 23,375,314, with an all-time low 153,820 births and 183,732 deaths, according to the data.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Taiwan on Thursday called on the world to stand in solidarity with Lithuania following China’s suspension of beef imports from the Baltic state over its closer ties with Taipei.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (???) condemned China’s “bullying” of Lithuania, while describing Beijing’s economic sanctions on the Baltic state as “despicable” and a “disruption of the global rules-based economic and trade order.”

Ou called on the international community to show their support for Lithuania, adding that Taiwan will continue to stand in solidarity with the Baltic state.

The suspension of beef imports since Wednesday was announced by China’s General Administration of Customs, without providing an explanation.

The agency typically halts imports of meat if exporting nations report outbreaks of disease in livestock, however, Lithuania has not reported any such issues to the World Organization for Animal Health recently.

The announcement was made amid growing friction between Lithuania and China over the former’s decision to allow the use of the word “Taiwanese” in the name of Taiwan’s representative office in the Baltic state, which opened last November.

China considers Taiwan to be an inseparable part of its sovereign territory and has sought to impose a cost on Lithuania for its decision, arguing that such a move encourages Taiwan independence.

Recent punitive measures taken by Beijing have included recalling its ambassador to Lithuania and expelling the Lithuanian ambassador to China, as well as suspending direct freight rail services and banning Lithuanian products from entering the Chinese market.

In response, the European Union last month launched a challenge at the World Trade Organization (WTO), accusing China of discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania that it says threaten the integrity of the EU’s single market.

The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have also said they will back the case against China at the trade body based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Currently Taiwan, which is also a WTO member, has not officially announced if it will participate in consultations on the case, saying only that it will closely follow the case and show its support for Lithuania and EU, without elaborating.

Taiwan announced last month that it will soon set up a US$1 billion credit fund to encourage Taiwan-Lithuania business cooperation and deepen bilateral economic ties, with the goal of offsetting increasing Chinese economic pressure.

The credit fund is separate from a US$200 million fund Taiwan previously promised to use to prioritize investment in Lithuania before expanding it to include other central and eastern European countries.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Flowers at sightseeing destinations such as the Wuling Farm in Taichung and the Alishan Mountain in Chiayi County have begun blooming earlier than usual, paving the way for tourists to visit the locations ahead of upcoming flower festivals.

The Forest District Office in Chiayi revealed that while the annual Alishan Flower Festival this year has been scheduled for between March 10 and April 10, the floras on the mountain have already blossomed ahead of schedule, making it the perfect time for sightseers to visit the destination without experiencing large crowds.

Speaking with CNA on Thursday, the deputy head of the office, Lee Ting-chung (???), said that five breeds of cherry blossoms have already bloomed on the mountain, with two more types also blooming on the roads to Alishan.

Aside from cherry blossoms, camellias, daisies, malacoideses, hydrangeas, and magnolias have also gone into bloom, added Lee.

Cherry blossoms have also gone into bloom earlier than expected at Wuling Farm, causing unexpected traffic congestion on the road leading to the tourist hotspot.

About 70 percent of the cherry blossoms in the farm have blossomed, according to the deputy director of the farm, Hu Fa-tao (???).

As a result, while the farm’s cherry blossom festival won’t open until Feb. 12, large numbers of sightseers have already begun to visit the farm over the last few days, causing vehicle waiting lines that stretched as far as five kilometers.

Hu added that the farm had initiated its population control protocols for both foot traffic inside the farm and for cars waiting outside to enter, with an estimated entry waiting time per car of between 10 and 30 seconds.

He also said the farm predicts that a full bloom will happen between Feb. 15 and 18, when about 21,000 cherry blossom trees will paint a beautiful landscape until the end of February.

During the actual festival, between Feb. 12 and 28, the farm will limit its capacity to 6,000 people everyday.

Visitors in vehicles without reservations will not be allowed to enter the farm, and will have to switch to using public transportation, Hu said.

Hu went on to explain that the premature blooming of the farm’s cherry blossoms this year was due to climate change causing a warm winter accompanied by robust precipitation.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

A NT$32.3 billion (US$1.16 billion) project to air-condition all 3,100 of Taiwan’s public elementary, junior high, and high schools has been completed ahead of schedule, Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng (???) announced at a press briefing Thursday.

According to Lo, Premier Su Tseng-chang (???) said that the government completing the project to install a total of 181,935 air conditioners in just a year and a half illustrated its determination to provide a better learning environment for students in Taiwan.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Su went on to note that students from both urban and rural areas would no longer need to feel the heat during summer classes.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) began working with local governments in July 2020 to install air conditioners and upgrade related electrical systems in public schools with the original aim of completing the project by May 2022.

Peng Fu-yuan (???), director-general of MOE’s K-12 Education Administration, said the ministry had instructed local governments and schools to begin testing the newly installed air conditioners and electrical systems in order to ensure the safety of every classroom.

He added that the testing was expected to finish in March and that the government would cover the energy costs generated by air-conditioning classrooms during school hours.

Peng said the government would also allocate an additional NT$848 million in funding to schools to help cover electricity and maintenance bills in 2022.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Taipei High Administrative Court published Wednesday its ruling overturning a lower court decision and canceling a fine of NT$200,000 (US$7,200) imposed on the satellite TVBS Entertainment Channel for embedded marketing.

The fine was issued by the National Communications Commission (NCC) after the channel on March 8, 2019 aired a segment of its television series “Girl’s Power,” in which the male and female protagonists encountered Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (???) when taking wedding photos at Taichung World Flora Exposition.

The NCC imposed the fine based on the provisions of the Satellite Broadcasting Act in January 2020, deeming the episode an example of placement marketing because the television channel failed to reveal the name or trademark of the sponsor when broadcasting it.

TVBS challenged the NCC ruling, saying it did not gain any benefit or interest in return for the segment or obtain a higher audience rating. Instead, the NCC action infringed on the independence and creativity of the production team, TVBS argued.

The television company took the case to Taipei District Court, which found in favor of the NCC on the grounds the episode was not a necessary part of the drama.

Following the television company’s appeal, Taipei High Administrative Court overturned the district court’s decision late last month, citing a poor understanding of the Satellite Broadcasting Act on the part of both the NCC and the lower court.

As it was proven that there was no quid pro quo between TVBS and Lu, the high administrative court in its ruling called the lower court’s verdict contradictory because it considered Lu’s appearance in the drama to be a “gratuitous act” while deeming TVBS and Lu to have a mutually remunerative relationship.

The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Taiwan on Wednesday welcomed an act proposed by the European Union (EU) that aims to enable the EU to work more closely with world leaders in the semiconductor industry such as Taiwan.

On Tuesday, the European Commission unveiled the European Chips Act which neutralizes its strict rules governing state aid to lure companies like Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to build more microprocessors in the region.

Under the act, the commission plans to allocate 11 billion euros (US$12.56 billion) in public funds for the research, design and manufacturing of semiconductors, with the goal of mobilizing a total of 43 billion euros of public and private investment until 2030 to expand the EU’s global market share of semiconductors from the current 9 percent to 20 percent.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (???) on Wednesday expressed the government’s receptiveness to the proposal on enhancing EU-Taiwan cooperation in bilateral investment and trade.

The ministry believes there is tremendous room for cooperation between Taiwan and the EU in terms of the semiconductor industry, global supply chain reconstruction, and strengthening democratic resilience in the post COVID-19 era, according to Ou.

Taiwan is ready to explore innovative measures to continue to deepen collaboration with the EU and its member states based on the existing communication channels, she added.

As stated in the act, only two companies in the world, one being TSMC in Taiwan, are capable of manufacturing the most advanced chips.

“As a first step, the above will be explored — using existing or new fora — with like-minded partners, such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and others,” said the act.

During Tuesday’s press event to unveil the act, Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president of the European Commission, and Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market, both lauded Taiwan’s leading position in the semiconductor industry, while reiterating the EU’s offer to TSMC to invest in Europe.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Japan’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan has welcomed Taiwan’s decision to end a decade-long ban on imports of food items from areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, and pledged that Tokyo will never sell Taipei products with health risks.

Hiroyasu Izumi, chief of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA), which represents Tokyo’s interests in Taipei in the absence of official diplomatic ties, said in a Facebook post Tuesday that he was gratified when he heard that Taiwan would adjust the 11-year-old ban.

“I know that the Japanese in those areas will be even more gratified over the news,” he said, noting that the fishermen and farmers in the affected areas have hoped their products would be accepted by people in Taiwan.

He reiterated the Japanese government’s stance that Japan will never sell Taiwan any food products with potential health risks.

Though travel between Taiwan and Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic has been limited, Izumi said, the import ban will at least give people in Taiwan the chance to enjoy Japanese peaches, strawberries, and other Made in Japan food and agricultural products.

The Japanese government welcomed the announcement, saying it marked a “large step toward the removal of restrictions,” according to Japan’s Kyodo News.

“We will be united in working to see the remaining restrictions removed,” Kyodo News cited the Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said the decision to lift the import ban was made after long discussions with Tokyo.

The two countries will soon sign a memorandum of understanding on the food safety issue to enhance information exchanges and deepen cooperation in this area, MOFA said in a statement.

Taiwan’s government announced Tuesday that it will lift its ban on food imports from five prefectures in Japan — Fukushima, where the disaster happened, and neighboring Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi — though some restrictions will remain.

The ban was first imposed by Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) government for food safety reasons in late March 2011, about two weeks after several reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant melted down following a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

It further tightened restrictions in 2015 when products from those prefectures were discovered on store shelves in Taiwan, drawing strong criticism from the Japanese government, which had been pushing Taiwan to lift the ban.

Since regaining power in May 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has considered lifting the ban, but has run into heavy domestic opposition.

In a national referendum in November 2018, 78 percent of people who cast ballots voted to maintain the ban.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel