Why has eggs become a big problem with the Democratic Progressive Party?

According to local media reports, Chen Jizhong, the head of Taiwan's agricultural department, resigned on September 19th and was granted permission, but the spark behind the incident - the controversy over imported eggs - is still ongoing.

This year, the people on the island have experienced the "longest egg shortage in history", with absurd events such as "hard to find an egg", skyrocketing egg prices, and long queues donating blood and eggs frequently reported. After the egg shortage crisis subsided slightly, imported eggs were once again exposed to food safety issues of being "toxic in eggs". Subsequently, up to 54.02 million imported eggs were destroyed due to "wear and tear" and expiration. Some people on the island questioned the DPP authorities, "How did life get like this?" "Living without any dignity.".

Although eggs are small, they are related to people's well-being. But how could a small egg make the Democratic Progressive Party authorities so difficult and reckless?

Political leadership, willing to sacrifice the near for the far

The economy of Taiwan is a shallow island economy with very limited resource factors, which determines that it relies on imports in many aspects such as energy and living resources, including eggs. Taiwan's self-produced eggs cannot meet the domestic demand, and during the most severe egg shortage this year, there is a shortage of nearly one million eggs per day.

Originally, this gap was easily resolved, with mainland China having the world's largest egg production within reach, and multiple countries and regions in East Asia importing from the mainland.Therefore, the DPP authorities chose to "save the fire from the water" and imported eggs at high prices from Australia, Brazil, Türkiye and other places by spending huge subsidies.

But this has triggered a new round of egg storms. Recently, imported eggs from Brazil have been exposed to have banned antibiotics, excessive pesticide levels in the egg liquid, and mislabeling of expiration dates. These issues have caused a crisis of consumer trust in food safety, and consumers are hesitant to buy eggs, leading to a collapse in egg prices. Egg farmers on the island are unable to afford to kill their laying hens due to insufficient costs... The egg shortage is further expanding, forming a vicious cycle.

The dark curtain is heavy, filling one's own pockets

Another reason for the prolonged outbreak of the egg crisis is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have viewed the issue of "egg shortage" as a profitable business.

According to local media reports, since March this year, Taiwan's agricultural authorities have implemented the import egg plan in a special case. As of July, more than 140 million eggs have been imported, and the subsidy for imported egg prices is nearly 570 million yuan. However, among the nine companies authorized to purchase "foreign eggs", one named "Chaosi", which was only established in September last year with a registered capital of only 500000 yuan, received a subsidy of 175 million yuan and imported 88.14 million eggs.

According to local media reports, a company that undertakes over 60% of the imported egg business on the island is actually located in an inconspicuous small building in a alley in Gangshan District, Kaohsiung City. It looks like a residential building and does not have a company sign hanging.

There are public doubts that this is another common practice of the Democratic Progressive Party authorities using leather bag companies to deceive subsidies. On the surface, it was the government's investment to "rescue the market", but in reality, it fell into the pockets of politicians.

In the more than seven years since the Democratic Progressive Party took office, wherever there are so-called policy subsidies, there will always be corrupt politicians with black hands. The Democratic Progressive Party politicians who are supported by the hard-earned money of the people on the island are not afraid of problems with their livelihoods, eggs, or eggs, which is their headache.