Legislators across party lines have agreed to amend the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) and ban imports of cow organs and ground beef from the US by Nov. 17. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators seem to be competing to prove their opposition to US beef. It is unlikely that government officials expected this when they mulled relaxing the restrictions.
National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) said the previous administration allowed US boneless beef imports without any negotiation.
“Someone at some agency just made a phone call and it was settled,” Su said.
By contrast, the current government engaged in talks with the US, asserting its authority and proving to the international community that Taiwan was capable of negotiating, he said.
Su seems to think the new government’s negotiations and decision-making process are far superior to its DPP predecessor. But with criticism mounting, the Cabinet has wavered and landed itself in a difficult spot.
It is generally accepted that tight regulations on US beef imports would have to change after Taiwan joined the WTO. The controversy is no longer a matter of food safety or communicating with the public — it is now about nationalist sentiment in the face of WTO negotiations. Japan and South Korea are cases in point.
Banning US beef imports for fear of mad cow disease may have been in the interest of local farmers and did not have to hurt the US-Taiwan relationship. However, as long as these restrictions existed, there was always going to be pressure from Washington. This is the reality of international politics. It is a vexing problem that those in power nevertheless must solve.
The DPP government was well aware of the root cause of the controversy. It gave in to the US government, eliminating any pretense of negotiations and other administrative measures.
The DPP administration ignored public opinion and the conclusion reached by a legislative investigative committee against US beef imports. It felt that with time, the issue would fade from the public memory.
On March 24, 2005, the Department of Health announced that the government would allow imports of US beef with certain conditions. Regardless of the opposition, which came from all quarters, the policy was implemented the following month. The criticism died down. Had it not been for new cases of mad cow disease in the US, the legislature would not have repeatedly protested against the imports.
By contrast, the KMT government, with its supposedly superior decision-making process, is using bureaucratic means to effectively block imports of US ground beef and cow tongues and organs to pacify public opposition.
Since the government cannot offer a 100 percent guarantee that US beef is safe, why did it rush into signing a protocol with the US?
Not only has the public lost confidence in the government, but the US now questions why Taiwan is acting outside the protocol.
The government has said repeatedly that it is impossible to relaunch negotiations with the US. If this is true, it should shoulder responsibility for its decision and stop KMT legislators from amending the law to ban imports of the controversial products.
If the amendment to the food sanitation act is passed, it will no longer be a question of whether domestic law overrides international protocols, but rather a case of reneging on a protocol signed under the WTO framework.
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