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One of the top stories from this past week was that the chairman of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), Eric Chu, reiterated that he will not run in the presidential election next year.
Chu made the comments in a press conference on Saturday. He said it is in fact more difficult not to run in the presidential election. Chu also said if the party loses in the election, he will step down as party chairman.
So far, none of the party heavyweights have thrown their hats in the ring.
In an interview published Saturday in the Taipei-based Apple Daily, President Ma Ying-jeou said Chu should not rule out his candidacy in the presidential election. Ma said as party chairman, Chu should not dodge the responsibility that is his to shoulder.
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Also this past week, Taiwan placed a temporary ban on imports of poultry from 15 US states as the United States faces its worst outbreak of bird flu since the 1980s.
On Friday, Council of Agriculture official Chang Su-san said that the strains spreading through the US are similar to those behind the outbreak of bird flu that struck Taiwan earlier in the year. Chang said that bird flu spikes during annual bird migrations such as the one that occurs from April to May.
Chang said that Taiwan might consider a temporary ban on all US poultry if the situation worsens. However, she said that for now, Taiwan will only ban imports from states that have reported cases.
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And finally, this past week, Health Minister Chiang Been-huang says that new rules on food imports from Japan do not mean a ban on Japanese food products. Chiang was speaking at a meeting of Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers on Friday.
His statement comes after a Japan’s Sankei Shimbun ran a report Thursday saying that Taiwan would place a moratorium on the import of Japanese food products.
Taiwan has banned imports of food from five Japanese prefectures since 2011 amid fears of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. New rules, which took effect on Friday, require that all imported Japanese food products come with proof-of-origin certificates.
In addition, the new rules also require that several “high risk” products from certain areas of Japan come with radiation safety certificates.