The UN is a major platform for modern nations to meet and interact with one another, and its main goal is to maintain and advance the most appropriate world order for the international community. The UN deals with a very broad range of topics, and issues related to human survival and development have become largely inseparable from the UN and its associated international agencies.
In the current debate over whether to allow imports of US beef with traces of the leanness-enhancing agent ractopamine, Taiwan would do well to refer to the way the Codex Alimentarius Commission is assessing standards for the drug.
Most people in Taiwan are not familiar with the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The commission was established by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the WHO in 1963 to ensure consumers’ access to safe and good-quality food.
Alongside the rapid development of food technology, the commission has been able to put together a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to food, food production and food safety.
This collection of standards is called the Codex Alimentarius, which is Latin for “Book of Food.” It is the most reliable and comprehensive reference for international food policies and food administration standards.
Aside from influencing consumer behavior throughout the world, the Codex Alimentarius provides standards for food manufacturers and processors to follow. It has helped reduce tariff and trade obstacles, thus promoting international trade in food products.
The commission provides its 185 member states (including the EU) and 208 observers with opportunities to discuss and formulate global food safety standards. The Codex system is a major platform for its members to set specific food standards for the international community.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission will hold its 35th session in Rome from Monday to Saturday next week, bringing together academics and experts from around the world, as well as its members and observers, and one of the items that they will discuss is standards for permitted residues of ractopamine.
Hopefully, whatever conclusion the meeting arrives at should help to bring about a consensus in Taiwan and resolve the national debate over whether to allow imports of US beef containing ractopamine residue.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission emphasizes that every person should be able to consume safe, good-quality food. Its purpose is not just to ensure that people can eat their fill, but also to protect everyone’s health rights.
As a member of the global village, Taiwan ought to be part of this important process of establishing international food safety standards, just like other countries.
However, Taiwan unfortunately is not a member state of the UN, so our government does not have the right to participate in the Codex Alimentarius Commission process or to obtain food-safety data directly from the commission. As a result, Taiwan has not been able to keep its food safety standards fully in line with those of the international community.
We must recognize that as long as Taiwan is not a UN member state, Taiwanese will not be able to enjoy the rights and benefits to which they are entitled.
Taiwan’s efforts to become a UN member are a matter not just of politics, but also of Taiwanese people’s quality of life.
Chen Lung-chu is chairman of the Taiwan New Century Foundation.
Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing
A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance. Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials. That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath