Beijing talks tough but expected to tone down response to Tsai-McCarthy meeting - South China Morning Post

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1. Beijing talks tough but expected to tone down response to Tsai-McCarthy meeting  South China Morning Post
2. How Taiwan and the US managed risks in Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with Kevin McCarthy  Financial Times
3. China deploys aircraft carrier group and patrol boats off Taiwan's coast  CNA
4. Snap Insight: For Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, provoking China by meeting US Speaker McCarthy is worth the risk  CNA
5. Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy is another poke in the eye  South China Morning Post
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-04-06 12:43:20Z
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16 species of insects like crickets, silkworms will receive SFA green light to be sold as food - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - A total of 16 species of insects, such as crickets and silkworm pupae, will receive the green light from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) for human consumption in the second half of 2023.

And consumers here can expect the critters to be served up at eateries directly, or as fried snacks or protein bars. Also on the menu: silkworm cocoons.

The approval of the insects for consumption will be subject to food safety requirements, including treatment processes to kill pathogens and ensuring that they are packed and stored safely to prevent contamination.

The move comes after the agency held a public consultation exercise from Oct 5 to Dec 4 2022 on the regulation of insects and insect products. It received 53 responses. These ranged from scepticism to feedback and concerns from industry players planning to bring in insect products.

SFA told The Straits Times in October 2022 that it had conducted a scientific review and assessed that specific species of insects with a history of human consumption can be consumed as food, either directly, or made into items such as snacks.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has in recent years been promoting insects for human consumption, in a bid to feed the world’s growing population in a more affordable and sustainable way.

The FAO had said that edible insects provide high quality nutrition, require less feed and emit less greenhouse gases compared with farmed livestock.

Besides insects, SFA said that it will also be permitting the cocoons of Bombyx mori, better known as silkworms, for human consumption in Singapore, given that these have been consumed in China and Malaysia, among other places.

Silkworms produce their cocoons with silk threads – which are composed of two main proteins, known as sericin and fibroin.

While silk has traditionally been used to produce textiles, ST understands that technology developments in recent years have allowed companies to turn these silk threads into food and edible coatings, with many Japanese biotech firms making strides in this area.

SFA said that it will also permit fibroin from silkworm cocoons for consumption, given that the protein has been approved in South Korea, Japan, and is “generally recognised as safe” by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration.

But those looking to introduce black soldier fly larvae for human consumption will have to apply for approval from SFA under its novel foods framework, as there is no known history of human consumption.

Black soldier fly larvae are used in Singapore to process food waste. The larvae consume up to four times their body weight in waste and in turn excrete frass, which is used as fertiliser. The larvae are used as fish and shrimp feed.

However, industry players remain divided on the scale of consumer demand, though many are already gearing up for their product launches.

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2023-04-07 05:14:29Z
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All Covid-19 vaccination centres for children to close after April 15, services to be relocated - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – All five children vaccination centres (CVCs) will be closed after April 15 and their services relocated to other centres from April 17, as Singapore continues to safely transition into an endemic Covid-19 phase.

There will also be changes in vaccination services at joint testing and vaccination centres (JTVCs), polyclinics and participating Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs), as well as the closure of one JTVC, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Thursday.

CVCs located at Our Tampines Hub, One Punggol, Queenstown Community Centre, Sembawang Community Club and Taman Jurong Community Centre will be closed due to low and stable demand for child vaccination.

From April 17, vaccination for children aged six months to 11 years old will be relocated to selected JTVCs, which will then offer both adult and child vaccinations at the same location.

With the streamlining of operations, there will be six JTVCs offering Covid-19 vaccination for children aged six months to 11 years old. These are JTVC Ang Mo Kio, JTVC Bukit Merah, JTVC Jurong East, JTVC Kaki Bukit, JTVC Sengkang and JTVC Yishun.

JTVC Commonwealth, which offers the bivalent Moderna/Spikevax and Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty vaccines for adults, will close after April 29 due to low demand and its proximity to JTVC Bukit Merah.

From May 2, JTVC Sengkang will be relocated from 60 Sengkang East Way to 19A Sengkang Square, which is next to Sengkang MRT station. The current location will close from April 30.

Covid-19 vaccination for children aged six months to four years will continue to be offered by appointment at Bukit Batok, Eunos, Kallang and Yishun polyclinics, while vaccination for children aged five to 11 years will continue to be offered by appointment at Bukit Panjang, Pioneer, Punggol and Woodlands polyclinics, as well as at selected PHPCs.

“This baseline of vaccination sites serves the current vaccination needs of the population while allowing us the flexibility to scale up operations when necessary,” said MOH.

It added: “Vaccination remains our primary defence against Covid-19. We encourage all individuals to take their vaccinations when eligible.”

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2023-04-06 09:49:32Z
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Was the meeting between US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen a success? - CNA

“Now that is a very critical step, and I would argue that today's meeting actually reiterated congressional support for such a move,” he said.

Park Strategies senior vice president Sean King said the US and Taiwan have a “long-standing and very endurable” relationship, across issues such as “electronics, technology, healthcare, trade, defence, democracy, freedom, and the strategic position that Taiwan plays in blocking the PLA's (People's Liberation Army) naval advance into the western Pacific”.

Mr Liao said America has “always had to walk a very fine line between provocation and assurances” when it comes to Taiwan.

“You want to deter China in the sense with military force, making an invasion that much harder to achieve, while also at the same time not take away the possibility (and) the prospect of eventually potentially Taiwan reuniting and being part of China.”

He said Wednesday’s meeting was a success due to the focus on speeding up the arms sales, and emphasis on the shared democratic values within the alliance.

“And that's actually a sign to me that they're talking about more substantive stuff behind the scenes, on how to basically operationalise this new concept of deterrence and to basically make the red lines both on Taiwan and the US side,” said Mr Liao.

The two are also clearer on their approach, while taking into consideration the guardrails required with China in order for competition to proceed safely, he added.

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2023-04-06 09:45:00Z
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China vows 'resolute' response to high-level US meet with Taiwan leader - CNA

BEIJING: China's foreign ministry on Thursday (Apr 6) condemned the meeting between United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California, state media Xinhua reported.

Tsai met with a delegation of US politicians from the Republican and Democratic parties during a stopover in the US on Wednesday after visiting Guatemala and Belize, two of Taipei's dwindling group of official allies.

"In response to the seriously erroneous acts of collusion between the United States and Taiwan, China will take resolute and effective measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the ministry said in a statement published by Xinhua.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and balks at any official contact Taipei has with other countries.

China has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

Wednesday's meeting "gravely violated the one-China principle", the ministry said, referring to the policy formally recognised by the US for decades.

"The Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations," the ministry added.

The Ministry of National Defense also condemned Tsai and McCarthy's meeting, Xinhua reported.

"We firmly oppose all forms of official interaction between the United States and Taiwan and any visit by leader of the Taiwan authorities to the United States in any name or under whatever pretext," the ministry said in a statement, according to Xinhua.

"The (People's Liberation Army) will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the ministry added.

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2023-04-05 22:58:34Z
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US talks show Taiwan 'not isolated': President Tsai - CNA

Taiwan is a flourishing democracy, with its own military, an independent judiciary and all the trappings of a fully functioning state.

But only a handful of countries acknowledge it as a sovereign nation.

Under a carefully constructed diplomatic fudge, the United States formally recognises Beijing, but is an important backer of Taiwan, and maintains strong unofficial and commercial ties.

Taipei enjoys bipartisan support in the US Congress, and has grown closer to Washington under Tsai's leadership - much to China's annoyance.

Support for Taiwan - and disapproval of China - is one of the few issues that unites America's warring politicians.

Duelling demonstrations from both pro-Beijing and pro-Taipei camps greeted Tsai's arrival Wednesday, while a small plane flew overhead trailing a banner that read: "One China! Taiwan is part of China!"

Beijing this week said it was "strongly opposed" to McCarthy's meeting Tsai.

"It seriously violates the One-China principle ... and seriously undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken played down the significance of Tsai's stop in California, and cautioned Beijing against using it as an "excuse to ratchet up tensions".

"These transits by high level Taiwanese authorities are nothing new," he told reporters in Brussels, where he was meeting with NATO foreign ministers.

"They are private and unofficial."

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2023-04-05 17:35:00Z
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China sends carrier group off Taiwan coast ahead of US meeting - CNA

TAIPEI: Taiwan's defence ministry said on Wednesday (Apr 5) that a Chinese aircraft carrier group was in the waters off the island's southeast coast, the same day President Tsai Ing-wen was due to meet US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

China, which claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has warned of unspecified retaliation if the meeting goes ahead.

China staged war games around Taiwan last August following the visit to Taipei of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Taiwan's defence ministry said the Chinese ships, which were led by the Shandong carrier, passed through the Bashi Channel which separates Taiwan from the Philippines and then into waters to Taiwan's southeast.

It said the ships were going for training in the Western Pacific, and that Taiwanese naval and air forces and land-based radar systems closely monitored them.

"The Chinese communists continue to send aircraft and ships to encroach in the seas and airspace around Taiwan," the ministry said.

"In addition to posing a substantial threat to our national security, it also destroys the status quo of regional security and stability. Such actions are by no means the acts of a responsible modern country."

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2023-04-05 12:18:00Z
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