On Nov. 14, thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets of Taipei to express their growing concern at the present administration's continued mismanagement of the nation’s international affairs. In line with this, the legislature has been deadlocked on an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生法). At issue, of course, was the recent agreement by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government to ease restrictions on US beef imports.
Don’t misunderstand this. It is not that Taiwanese do not like US prime rib, T-bones or filet mignon; they love them. What Taiwanese are upset about is the slipshod manner of negotiations and apparent deal-making that the Ma government is trying to present as a fait accompli.
What was the agreement and what was the presumed deal? Back on Nov. 2, the agreement was this: Ma’s government, with little advance warning, lifted its ban on US bone-in beef and other beef products, including offal and ground beef. These items present a clear and present danger for the people of Taiwan and yet that’s where the Ma government has been cavalier in its attitude toward public safety.
Ma blatantly has tried to dodge the issue by in effect professing, “I am letting in poisoned products, but don’t be alarmed I am not forcing you to buy and eat them.” Then why let them in to begin with?
Here then is the second part. What is the presumed deal? Why, with so little discussion or consultation of the legislature and the public, was this made and announced as a done deal? What was to be gained by letting in such potential dangers? Where is the pay-off that Ma wanted and needed?
Ma has asked legislators not to reject this deal or amend the law because it would risk the nation’s credibility. The issue, however, is not the nation’s credibility, but the credibility of the Ma government in making ill-advised deals with little thought for public health.
In effect, Ma is asking the people to save his face by saying, “My people goofed up and were caught. But please don’t embarrass us in front of the world and the US by asking us to go back to the bargaining table. We will look bad.”
Look bad? Of course they will. Ma’s people looking bad has been the story of this government since it took office. Incompetence and an autocratic attitude of trying to squelch any questioning of its performance has been the order of the day.
The issues, problems and opposition are bigger than US beef. Further dangers loom. The Ma’s government has already signed a financial memorandum of understanding with China, again with little serious discussion. Now, worse still, a blind, non-transparent, economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China is coming up, a deal that could damage Taiwan’s industries and agricultural sector and weaken the nation’s sovereignty.
Who will be making the profit on these deals as well? The people of Taiwan have good reason to be worried.
Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent the vast Asian chemicals industry into a tailspin. Deprived of the likes of Qatari natural gas and Saudi Arabian oil, the region’s fertilizer and plastics plants are slowing production or even shutting down. Everywhere except China, that is. In petrochemicals, China is unique. As well as a traditional industry that uses oil and gas as feedstock, it has parallel output that relies on its abundant domestic coal. Unsurprisingly, India and other regional powers want to copy and paste the Chinese method. This would not be easy — or climate friendly. The
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) recent visit to Beijing and her upcoming visit to Washington will serve as a high-level test of her diplomatic mettle. In Beijing, Cheng was received with symbolic gestures, a warm reception, and high-level access. In Washington, she will receive far less pomp and far sharper questions about the KMT’s vision for the future of Taiwan. Her challenge will be to persuade Washington that the KMT’s engagement with China can coexist with strong deterrence. Cheng’s April 7-12 visit to mainland China coincided with an intense period of conflict in Iran. Despite the strategic significance of Cheng’s trip,
History might remember 2026, not 2022, as the year artificial intelligence (AI) truly changed everything. ChatGPT’s launch was a product moment. What is happening now is an anthropological moment: AI is no longer merely answering questions. It is now taking initiative and learning from others to get things done, behaving less like software and more like a colleague. The economic consequence is the rise of the one-person company — a structure anticipated in the 2024 book The Choices Amid Great Changes, which I coauthored. The real target of AI is not labor. It is hierarchy. When AI sharply reduces the cost
US President Donald Trump recently repeated his claim that “Taiwan stole America’s chip industry,” reigniting public debate on the issue. As a former Taiwanese minister of economic affairs and an entrepreneur deeply involved in semiconductor supply chain development, I feel a responsibility to clarify this misunderstanding. From the perspective of global industrial evolution and the economic principle of comparative advantage, such a statement appears overly simplistic and risks obscuring the essence of the issue. The rise of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry was not built on “replacing America,” but rather emerged as a result of countries pursuing different development paths within the
RSS