Carcinogenic Oil Scandal Escalates: Taipei Mayor Demands Resignations, Calls for Protests

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an escalated his criticism of the central government's handling of a carcinogenic cooking oil scandal, demanding resignations and urging citizens to take to the streets. The controversy centers on contaminated oil from Chung Lien Oil, with a new batch discovered to be problematic on June 17.

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Food safety is national security, Lai Ching-te should apologize, and Cho Jung-tai should step down.

Chiang accused the central government of arrogance and a failure to admit fault, particularly after a Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson's remarks. He stated that the government's slow response allows companies time to tamper with evidence. "Food safety is national security," Chiang declared, calling for President Lai Ching-te to apologize and Premier Cho Jung-tai to step down.

Premier Cho had earlier expressed anger at Chung Lien Oil's "highly irresponsible" behavior and apologized for the administration's failure to grasp the full scope of the issue immediately. However, Chiang dismissed the apology as insufficient, arguing it only addressed one problematic batch and unfairly placed all blame on the company. He questioned whether earlier batches from January to March were also contaminated and whether upstream suppliers had been thoroughly investigated.

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The central government is still unwilling to apologize, only apologizing for one problematic batch and pushing all responsibility onto the業者.

Chiang announced he would meet with the Kuomintang caucus at the Legislative Yuan to discuss the scandal further. He reiterated his call for public demonstrations, emphasizing that citizens should not be "bullied" by the current central government regarding food safety concerns.

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DPP spokesperson Wu Tsung-hsien actually yelled at the media person who raised questions, and said 'it wasn't the DPP that forced everyone to eat toxic oil.' This is arrogance, this is unwillingness to admit mistakes and apologize.