The Council of Agriculture yesterday proposed compartmentalizing a major trade conflict with the US regarding the use of a controversial feed additive by easing the ban on imports of beef that contain the substance and keeping in place the ban on pork imports.
“It could be a solution acceptable to both the US and local pig farmers that beef with an acceptable level of ractopamine be allowed into the country, while pork products found to have traces of the banned drug would still be banned,” Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Hu Sing-hwa (胡興華) said.
The council will present the twin-track proposal at an intergovernmental meeting for the new Cabinet, Hu said.
Hu said this fresh approach would minimize the impact of allowing imports of US beef products that contain traces of ractopamine in terms of public health concerns and complaints from the domestic swine industry.
“It’s not that pork containing ractopamine residues is not safe for human consumption. It does not matter whether it is beef or pork. Meat can safely be eaten as long as the residues remain within the acceptable daily intake levels, but most Taiwanese eat more pork than beef,” Hu said.
“The number of households engaging in pig-raising exceeds 10,000. They rear about 6 million pigs nationwide and pork tops the list of agricultural goods in terms of production value,” he said.
Taiwan is about 95 percent self-sufficient in pork production, while only 7 percent of its beef is locally provided, Hu said.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration recently hinted at the possibility of easing the ban on imports of meat containing ractopamine, a growth-promoting drug approved for use in the US and 25 other countries in cattle and hog production, but banned in Taiwan since Oct. 11, 2006.
Hog farmers have opposed any move to lift that ban, as they did in 2007 when the then-Democratic Progressive Party government notified the WTO that it planned to establish a maximum residue level for ractopamine following a risk assessment conducted by the Department of Health.
Taiwan began testing US beef for ractopamine in January last year and demanding that beef found to contain the drug be removed from shelves, prompting the US both to urge Taiwan to meet its WTO commitment and to extend suspension of bilateral talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) halted in 2007 because of the mad cow disease issue.
American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt brought up the issue with officials during his visit to Taipei this week.
In response to press queries, Burghardt said resolving the beef issue was a good first step toward Taiwan having a broader and more liberal overall trade posture, vital to its engagement with the to-be-established Trans-Pacific Partnership.
However, the Republic of China Swine Association (ROCSA), a nationwide association of hog farmers, and the Republic of China Cattle Association, have criticized the two-track proposal.
ROCSA deputy director Lin Chiu-kuei (林秋桂) said 18 board members will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss plans to protest the policy.
“The government saying it would only lift the ban on beef was simply a sham to pacify hog farmers. Once it allows ractopamine residue in beef imports, it will also allow residues in pork imports,” Lin said.
Cattle association head Liu San-ho (劉三和) said his group would mobilize its members to protest the policy, which he said would have a serious impact on their industry.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
Singapore is to allow imports of Taiwanese raw pork for the first time in 15 years, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. The Singapore Food Agency has approved imports of fresh pork produced by New Taipei City-based Cha I Shan Foods, which had obtained a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification from the ministry to export to Singapore, it said. The ministry said it had hoped Singapore would permit Taiwanese fresh pork imports in addition to processed pork products. Singapore agreed to accept Taiwanese fresh pork after completing a document review and a virtual tour of Cha I Shan Foods’ packing
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the city “does not tolerate violence” after the Taipei City Council reported death threats over a planned screening today of a documentary on alleged forced organ harvesting in China. The council’s report follows a flurry of similar threats targeting theaters and institutions screening the documentary, titled State Organs, which accuses Chinese officials of harvesting organs from incarcerated dissidents and Falun Gong members. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors who planned to screen the film told a news conference earlier yesterday that the organizers of the screening had received a threat of a knife attack signed
RSS