Japan indicated yesterday that it would not rush to resume imports of US beef until assessing concerns about mad cow disease amid intense US pressure ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"We cannot say when at the moment" Japan will lift the ban, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesman, told a news conference.
He emphasized that Japan had already accepted a key US demand by agreeing not to test every cow to be slaughtered.
The stumbling point is how to test the cows' ages, with Japan saying there is not enough evidence to go ahead with methodology proposed by the US.
"The US proposals came after we reached a scientific conclusion in Japan that cows younger than 20 months old can be exempted from all-out checks," Hosoda said.
Japan used to be the biggest foreign market for US beef but shut off the multibillion-dollar trade in December 2003 after a cow slaughtered in Washington state was found to have bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, linked to a fatal brain condition in humans.
Members of the US Congress from farm states have called for trade sanctions against Japan unless it resumes buying US beef soon.
US President George W. Bush personally urged Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, one of his key international allies, to lift the ban in a telephone call last Wednesday, a message Rice is expected to emphasize in meetings in Tokyo on Saturday.
Yasufumi Tanahashi, the state minister overseeing food safety, said the government would "watch independent debate" at the experts' panel on beef, suggesting Tokyo would not put political pressure on it before Rice's visit.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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