Today, I saw a public Facebook post by the Executive Yuan, which mentioned that the Kuomintang (KMT) was deliberately provoking anti-Japanese sentiment to oppose the importation of food from nuclear disaster affected areas. The full text of the Executive Yuan’s statement supporting the import of food from disaster areas into Taiwan is as follows: “The Executive Yuan deeply regrets that the KMT is using the public hearing as a battleground for their internal party primary and that some individuals are intentionally provoking anti-Japanese sentiment. Executive Yuan Spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung expressed that the Executive Yuan finds this extremely regrettable. There is too much false information circulating regarding the import of Japanese food, and thus, the public hearing is necessary to facilitate discussion among experts, scholars, concerned citizens, and the government to put an end to the dissemination of false rumors. At the same time, the government hopes that through the public hearing and citizen participation, the mechanism for managing and inspecting imported food can be made more comprehensive.”
Taiwan Next (臺灣內社) wants to remind all readers!!! In the past, even with existing food control regulations, manufacturers were still able to illegally smuggle non-compliant Japanese food and raw materials into Taiwan; once the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, in an effort to please Japan, enters into private agreements with the Japanese government and forces the citizens to accept the future expansion of imported food from Japanese nuclear disaster affected areas. Then, the formerly small import channel will be like Pandora’s Box being opened. I would not be surprised if truly radiologically contaminated Japanese food were all sent to Taiwan to cash in and give the Japanese people a pay raise.
The crucial question is: Why is the Tsai Ing-wen administration so intent on opening up the import of food that is clearly not necessary?
The crucial question is: Since food from areas with nuclear contamination concerns actually has a higher radioactive contamination index than natural food, why is the DPP government so determined to open the import channels?
The crucial question is: Food or raw materials from the four affected Japanese prefectures (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba, and Gunma) are not delicacies exclusively produced in these locations across the entire universe, so why is the DPP government so aggressively forcing the opening?
The crucial question is: What exactly is the reason the Tsai Ing-wen and the DPP administration are fighting tooth and nail to allow food from nuclear disaster affected areas into Taiwan?
The DPP-controlled Executive Yuan claims the KMT is provoking anti-Japanese sentiment, but I do not believe this is the case.
It is the DPP that is planning to forcibly lift the ban on food from Japanese nuclear disaster affected areas, disregarding the health and safety of the citizens. Are we now forbidden even to mention the word “Japan”? Japan is not some supreme authority; Taiwan is not the mainland across the strait with its speech controls, and Taiwanese people are certainly not Imperial Japanese loyalists!
This leads one to suspect that the DPP is deliberately exaggerating anti-Japanese sentiment to obscure the real focus: “Why is the government forcing the lifting of restrictions on non-essential food?” Having the attacker cry for help sounds quite plausible, doesn’t it?
We reiterate Taiwan Insider’s position one last time!!!
A public hearing can at best only conclude that “currently there is no scientific evidence” to support the claim that food from nuclear disaster affected areas is harmful to health, but this does not mean it will not have an impact in the future. Given this doubt, and based on the premises that it is neither $100%$ essential to open the market (otherwise Taiwanese people would starve) nor $100%$ guaranteed to be completely safe, we advocate for maintaining the ban on the importation of food from Japanese nuclear disaster affected areas into Taiwan at this time!!!
Once Pandora’s Box is opened, no one will be able to stop the local Taiwanese bad habit of exploiting loopholes for small gains.