Taiwan does not want Japanese nuclear Fukushima food

This music video from the USA says about itself:

Flush the TPP (Fukushima Inspired) ♫

14 April 2015

A Very Current and SPECIFIC EXAMPLE OF WHY THE TPP IS A TERRIBLE IDEA!

Song called TPP 101. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and it’s US/European equivalent, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are massive attempts to undermine democracies around the world and subjugate them and their citizens to a kind of global corporate rule. They must be stopped. This song needs a music video. Anyone…? (Don’t wait for my approval, just do it!) (Here’s my feeble attempt to do justice to the song)

Lyrics:

Free traders and traitors, bankers and thieves
Are at it once again
WTO just didn’t cut it
So now there’s no telling when
They’ll pass this latest treaty
From behind closed doors
And win another battle
In the transnational class wars

They want Fast Track Authority
So they can get the job done right
By which they mean no discussion
Don’t even pretend to put up a fight
As they take from us our government’s
Ability to regulate
What happens within the borders
Of what they used to call the state

In what they used to call democracy
The idea that people have a say
In whether we should be building windmills
Or fracking our lives away
Whether banking regulations
Are a good idea or not
Whether the food on your kitchen table
Comes from a Monsanto plot

Whether the poor should die
Or have affordable medication
Whether human life is less important
Than your corporation
Whether this world is a commons
Or just a free trade bill
That we need about as much
As another oil spill

So let’s do like we do in the WC
And flush the TPP

They say it’ll help the economy
And they’ve said all that before
Like when they implemented NAFTA
In 1994
The US lost a million jobs
Of this there is no doubt
And in Mexico, small farmers
Were almost completely wiped out

And when the refugees started streaming in
They were treated just like tools
In the great game of the oligarchs
The old divide and rule
Just like JP Morgan said
“Why worry,” he laughed
“When I can pay half the working class
To kill the other half”

Chorus

SOPA, PIPA, ACTA
They couldn’t get them passed
So now they’ve snuck them all into TPP
Try running that one up the mast
In the back rooms no one knows
Which corporation speaks
Except when secret documents
Get sent to WikiLeaks

And it’s only from the whistleblowers
We even know it’s there
One for Asia, one for Europe
Free trade everywhere
Free trade, free pollution
Freedom for the billionaires
Enslavement for the rest of us
But hey, they got theirs

~~~~~

Amari: Japan will not compromise alone on TPP

Apr. 14, 2015

Trade negotiators from Japan and the US will resume working-level talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Tokyo on Wednesday.
They are hoping to reach a bilateral agreement before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets President Barack Obama in Washington on April 28th.

But the Japanese minister in charge of the free-trade pact says Tokyo will not make one-sided concessions ahead of the summit.
Akira Amari said Japan does not consider the summit a deadline. He said he wants to focus on narrowing the gaps between the 2 sides to smooth the way for higher-level talks.

Amari said US negotiators would be mistaken if they believe that Japan will make compromises during the next 2 weeks.
But the Japanese minister said he is willing to meet with his US counterpart after the working-level talks to make further efforts at ironing out differences.

~~~~~~

Ma stresses need to regain trust in food safety

Apr. 14, 2015

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has stressed the need to restore Taiwanese consumers’ confidence in Japanese foods.
Ma made the comment in a news conference with the Japanese media in Taiwan on Tuesday, one day after Taiwan announced that it would tighten regulations on food imports from Japan, beginning as early as May.

The rules will include the provision of place-of-origin labels for Japanese food products. This is to make sure the products are free of radioactive contamination.

Taiwan already has an import ban on place for foods from 5 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, since the nuclear accident in 2011.

At the news conference, Ma referred to a revelation last month that foods from the 5 prefectures subject to the existing ban are being imported to Taiwan.

Ma said that consumers’ trust regarding the place of origin of Japanese foods must be restored. He said that if the trust is not regained soon, it could influence future business.

The president added that the import regulations will be neither too lax nor too strict, compared with other countries. He indicated that the regulations were determined by studying measures taken by other nations.

USA petition: Urgent! Block Fast Track of Trans Pacific Partnership NOW, Say NO to Radioactive Food from Japan: here.

From Japan Safety blog:

Taiwan tightens controls on Japan food imports, citing mislabeling — The Japan Times

May 15, 2015 by Melanie

And it looks like the U.S. isn’t the only country concerned with contamination of its Japanese food imports.

The Japan Times: ”TAIPEI – Taiwan imposed new restrictions on food imported from Japan on Friday after hundreds of products were recalled over labels that disguised the fact that they came from areas affected by the nuclear crisis at Tepco’s Fukushima No. 1 plant.

Taiwan banned Japanese food imports from five prefectures including Fukushima in March 2011, a few weeks after the triple meltdown occurred and radioactive particles were detected in some imports.

Starting Friday, all food imports from Japan will be required to carry certificates proving that they are not from the five banned areas, while some will also need “radiation inspection certificates,” according to the Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.

In March, Taiwanese authorities recalled hundreds of Japanese food items that had falsified labels hiding the fact that they came from regions affected by radioactive fallout, they said.

“The measures are necessary to . . . protect Taiwanese consumers’ health and welfare. The government and (food) companies should work together to provide safe food products,” the ministry said in a statement.

Japanese food products are popular in Taiwan. The local Apple Daily newspaper reported that stocks of some best-selling chocolates and prepackaged french fries could run out within three months due to delays caused by the new requirements.

…

Taiwan and Japan maintain close trade ties even though Tokyo switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1972.

Taiwan is the third-largest export market for Japanese foods and agricultural products, after Hong Kong and the United States, with ¥83.7 billion worth of shipments last year.

Taiwan’s government has been stepping up food safety measures after the nation was rocked by a string of food scandals in recent years.”

See also here.

Tepco could improve handling of radioactive waste at wrecked Fukushima plant, IAEA says — The Japan Times: here.

Tepco may need to dump Fukushima water into sea, UN says — Bloomberg Business: here.

Experts say faults under Japan nuclear plant may be active — Kyodo News: here.

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