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COA officials accuse US of `imperialism'

The deal that opens local markets to US farmers in exchange for supporting Taiwan's bid to join the WTO is an example of "US imperialism" and is "unfair," according to Taiwan's senior agriculture officials.

Chen Hsi-huang (陳希煌), chairman of the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (農委會), told lawmakers yesterday that he had lodged a protest over the unfairness of the agreement with Raymond Burghardt, (薄瑞光), director of the American Institute in Taiwan (美國在台協會台北辦事處).

Chen claimed that he had been told that as both countries had signed the agreement in 1998, Taiwan was bound to carry it out without question.

"This is US imperialism," said Chen.

The agreement -- generally referred to as the "down payment" -- allows the import of 10,000 tonnes of poultry, 5,000 tonnes of pork bellies and 5,000 tonnes of pork and beef offal annually from the US.

Agriculture officials have become incensed that, although Taiwan's market has been opened, it has yet to gain membership in the trade organization.

"It's not fair ... because we haven't yet become a member of the WTO but we have opened the market," said Watson Sung (宋華聰), deputy director-general of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection, and Quarantine (動植物防疫檢疫局) under the agriculture council.

Chen said that if the US doesn't put its weight behind Taiwan's push to join the WTO this year, the government will most certainly ax the "down payment."

"The council's main concern is to safeguard the rights of Taiwan's farmers," Chen said.

Taiwan and China are expected to enter the WTO sometime this year, or early next year at the latest.

Chen's criticism of the "down payment" system comes less than a week after US trade negotiators voiced their complaints over the deal during meetings with local trade officials in Taipei, saying Taiwan was not living up to its end of the bargain.

US negotiators had accused Taiwan of erecting barriers to the import of US meat products by imposing a restrictive quota and administrative system.

Despite the tough stance the US is taking on the issue, Chen dispelled rumors that the US was threatening retaliatory action if the "down payment" is axed by placing Taiwan on the "super 301" watch list.

"The US has made no mention of any intentions to take retaliatory action for the council's intention to end the `down payment,'" Chen said.

These rumors Chen blamed on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Board of Foreign Trade (國貿局), who led the discussions with the US negotiators last week in an attempt to "bully the farmers" into accepting greater import quotas.
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