Public's concerns about food safety override trade benefits: Ma

TAIPEI: Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that he will honor the legislature's decision to amend a food safety law, even though it will resume a ban against certain US beef products, only two months after Ma's administration had lifted the ban.

Ma made the statement at a press conference after the Legislative Yuan passed the amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation.

Soon after Ma spoke, "Minister of Economic Affairs" Shih Yen-shiang said planned trade talks between Taiwan and the United States originally scheduled to be held in Taipei will not take place as scheduled in the wake of yesterday's legislative decision.

The talks, which had been scheduled to be held under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), were sure to be postponed following Taiwan Legislative Yuan's passage earlier in the day of an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation to ban imports of beef products from regions that have documented mad cow disease cases over the past decade, according to Shih.

Shih said that several planned bilateral pacts that would pave the way for the signing of a Taiwan-US free trade agreement (FTA) - a topic to be discussed in the TIFA talks, would also be negatively affected.

The food sanitation law amendment bans risky beef products from being imported from countries such as the United States where mad cow disease cases have been documented in the past 10 years.

Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday the administration, legislature and both the ruling and opposition parties have reached a consensus to jointly shoulder the consequences.

Pointing out that there are certain differences between the contents of the amendment and the protocol as well as proposals of the administration, Ma said that it is natural for there to be different viewpoints between the administration and legislators.

Ma said that although the administration's decision in October to relax import restrictions on US beef was based on scientific evidence and was in line with international regulations, the decision of the Legislative Yuan reflected that most people still were doubtful of the safety of beef offal and ground beef.

The amendment came in the wake of two months of contention since Taiwan and the United States signed a protocol in October to allow the entry of bone-in beef and other beef products, including ground beef and offal, that had previously been banned out of concern over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday, "The United States deeply regrets the Legislative Yuan's decision to restrict US beef imports and the legislature's decision to abrogate the bilateral protocol being negotiated in good faith."

"This regards both science-based standards as well as the findings of Taiwan's own risk assessment," AIT spokesman Christopher Kavanagh told the Central News Agency.

He added, "This action also undermines Taiwan's credibility as a responsible trading partner and will make it more difficult for us to conclude future agreements to expand and strengthen bilateral trade and economic ties going forward."

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will issue a joint statement on the issue later, according to the AIT.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 01/06/2010 page2)