Opposition to "Ractopamine Pork" Turns Legislature into Chaos
China Times, November 28, 2020
As Taiwan’s import restrictions on United States pork containing ractopamine are expected to be lifted “as scheduled” on January 1, 2021, ruling and opposition party legislators fought all out in the chambers of the Legislative Yuan. Premier Su Tseng-chang, in a stinky mess of 48 kilograms flying pork intestine pieces, lard, and pouring of bloody water in front the podium, broke the opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT) 13th boycott, hastily delivered his policy address with a closing punchline “Taiwan is a blessed land”. His hasty Policy Address ended the opposition’s two-month long boycott in the Legislative Yuan, the longest one to date.
Although Premier Su delivered his policy address, he did not touch the relevant wording on the sensitive issue, such as “American pork” and “ractopamine”. It enraged the opposition, and the opposition asked the shameless Premier to step down. The opposition also strongly questioned the impartiality of the speaker on the ractopamine pork issue, a stalemate unsolved.
Due to the premier refusing to apologize for the policy lifting the ban of importing American pork with ractopamine, the KMT had expressed earlier that they would occupy the rostrum the thirteenth time. However, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus of the Legislative Yuan, which has majority dominance, changed their previous 12 times’ tactics of letting the KMT boycott the law-making process. In the afternoon on December 25, about 40 hours before the Policy Address to be delivered, the DPP caucus started a non-stop relay to guard the gate of Assembly Hall. When the gate was opened yesterday early morning, the DPP members rushed into the chambers and occupied the rostrum and the podium. Despite the opposition KMT had marked all 18 slots for speaking in the State Affairs Forum (a standing agenda established since 1994 in the Legislative Yuan that entitles any Legislator registered in advance to make a 3-minute free speech), the Speaker Yu Shyi-kun just skipped the agenda, and directly invited Premier Su to make his Policy Address with an excuse that “due to the speaking podium has been occupied”.
KMT legislators, realizing that their protest was in vain, then rushed to block the path Premier Su was approaching to the rostrum, at the same time the DPP legislators built a “human-wall” to keep a path for the Premier. Then a radical gang fights with physical push and squeeze started. Taiwan State-Building Party Legislator Chen Po-wei who bragged days ago that he would fight “1 versus 35” (the total number of opposition members in the 113-member Legislative Yuan), been held the neck by KMT Legislator Lin Wei-zhou and in seconds was forced out of the Hall.
When DPP legislators safeguarded the platform and rostrum with human-wall, KMT legislators took out piles of prepared pork viscera and threw them to the platform. DPP legislators quickly lifted up their prepared transparent acrylic boards to fence the attack. Many members were splashed with sticky brain-shaped minced meat pieces. The whole floor was in a smelly and bloody mess with piercing whistles and hooters roaring in the Hall. It was a rare “surprise raid” in recent years.
Surrounded by a man-wall and within a chaos, Premier Su spent five minutes to finish delivering his policy address. While there were more than 60 million people in the world suffering the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, people in Taiwan still can enjoy watching this kind of “National Day fireworks” show. It was, ironically, as Premier Su said: “Taiwan is a blessed land”.
Facing the controversial ractopamine pork issue, Premier Su dodged to mention sensitive words, such as ractopamine, in his policy address. On the contrary, Premier Su mentioned that the United States is Taiwan’s strongest ally of Taiwan, and if Taiwan is to join the international community, then “international trade” (that is, with the United States) is a step Taiwan must take.
In the later “Party’s Inquiries” session, the DPP proposed a written inquiry. The opposition KMT continued to protest lifting the ban of ractopamine pork policy, and refused to start the policy inquiry. During DPP’s and Taiwan People Party’s inquiries the KMT members shouted “down the shameful Su Tseng-chang”; Premier Su shrugged with a misty disproving smile.
The KMT legislators’ special way of protest in the Legislative Yuan yesterday, throwing and pouring the pork haslets and shouted Premier Su to step down, has set a new record. It also made vast public arguments. Not only the DPP condemned such a behavior “waste food, despise pig farmers’ diligence, and made the scene bloody and disgusting”, the Pork-Farming Association also made a statement that “it was the gravest insult to the farmers in pork-farming industry.”
However, the KMT Chairman and Legislator Johnny Chiang refuted: “If we don’t take strong protest and boycott, it would mean to condone the emerging of despotism”. The KMT caucus of the Legislative Yuan asserted that throwing pork viscera is meant to let the world to see the shamefulness of the ruling party and Premier Su in lifting import restrictions on pork containing ractopamine. The KMT also criticized: “Those now sitting on ranking posts care only power, a piece of smelly intestine didn’t hurt them enough.”
Allegedly, the KMT caucus went consecutively in the last two days to four retail markets, spent NT$7,000 (about US$280) to buy seven barrels of pork heart, lever, lung, large intestine, small intestine, kidney, brain, and lard and so on. It stuffed full in all the KMT Caucus’ refrigerators in the Legislature Yuan. The KMT caucus also will request in next week the ruling DPP to make a special report on Speaker Yu’s “confiscating” the scheduled “State Affairs Forum” agenda.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20201128000335-260118?chdtv