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.
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, a group of bipartisan US senators arrived in Taiwan to support the nation’s special defense bill to counter Chinese threats. At the same time, Beijing announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to visit China, a move to make the KMT a pawn in its proxy warfare against Taiwan and the US. Since her inauguration as KMT chair last year, Cheng, widely seen as a pro-China figure, has made no secret of her desire to interact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and meet with Xi, naming it a
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
No state has ever formally recognized the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) as a legal entity. The reason is not a lack of legitimacy — the CTA is a functioning exile government with democratic elections and institutions — but the iron grip of realpolitik. To recognize the CTA would be to challenge the People’s Republic of China’s territorial claims, a step no government has been willing to take given Beijing’s economic leverage and geopolitical weight. Under international law, recognition of governments-in-exile has precedent — from the Polish government during World War II to Kuwait’s exile government in 1990 — but such recognition
RSS