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NSC blames beef panic on poor communication

A shop assistant shows off Canadian beef in a store in Kaohsiung City yesterday at a promotional event organized by the Canada Beef Export Federation Taiwan Office. PHOTO: CNA

The National Security Council secretary-general, Su Chi (蘇起), yesterday apologized for causing panic over the government’s relaxed beef policy.

Su said miscommunication had led to public panic, and that he regretted this and would seek to avoid future misunderstandings.

However, the government does not expect to renegotiate the protocol it signed with the US, he told the legislature’s Judiciary, Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. If Taiwan succeeded in reopening negotiations with Washington, South Korea might make similar demands, he said.

Su said many interests must be considered in dealing with Washington, including investment protection, possible future visa-free entry for Taiwanese traveling to the US and a long-sought extradition treaty, among others.

However, as Taiwan’s restrictions on US beef were Washington’s top concern, Su said negotiators addressed this matter first.

The “South Korea model” was the “politically safest” approach, he said, adding that he respected the legislature’s plan to amend the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) to ban certain bovine products that may be “health-threatening.”

Su expressed hope, however, that the revision would not violate the protocol with Washington or WTO and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) regulations, as this would undermine Taiwan’s credibility and its relationship with the US. It would also deal a blow to the country’s overall development, Su said.

Su said the protocol should still have greater authority than any amendment, but that a constitutional interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices might be needed.

He said he was not against the legislature ratifying the protocol and he would respect the legislature’s decision.

“Our goal is to ensure public safety and expand Taiwan’s international space,” he said.

Su dismissed speculation that Washington had warned the executive branch against any measures that would counter the protocol, saying the US “has yet to respond.”

Meanwhile, the office of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday criticized the government for relaxing restrictions on US beef, calling President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) “incompetent” and Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) “shameless.”

In a statement, the office condemned a CTiTV report that said Yaung had privately revealed that Chen pressured the health department to relax the beef ban before leaving office.

Chen’s office said that in March last year, near the end of his term, Washington expressed hope that Chen would loosen the restrictions. Chen told US officials that as a new president had been elected, his government was a “caretaker” and should not make major decisions, the statement said.



The decision to relax the beef policy was made by the new administration, the statement said.

Yet after the public outcry, the new government “did not examine itself to determine the problem but instead shifted blame onto the former government,” it said. “This not only reveals Ma’s incompetence, but also Yaung’s shamelessness.”

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also panned Yaung for saying the DPP was manipulating the beef issue to win next month’s local government elections.

“If Yaung knew the beef issue would be used as a election ploy then he, as a health professional, should have had the guts to say no to Ma’s policy of giving US beef full access to Taiwan’s [market],” DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told a press conference.

Tsai said it was “despicable” of Yaung to smear the DPP over a matter of legitimate public concern.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said legislators had yet to determine the exact wording of the amendment.

Although two versions have been proposed — one by the DPP and one by KMT Legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交) — Lu said the legislature could empower the government to draw up a list of banned products rather than stating them in the amendment.

Lu said the amendment must not violate WTO guidelines.

Meanwhile, Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) became the first KMT lawmaker to endorse a petition for a referendum on US beef imports launched by civic groups. In a press release, Lu said that as a lawmaker, she was obligated to show her concern for anything the public opposes.

Lu Shiow-yen demanded fresh negotiations with Washington and said she was against imports of US ground beef, internal organs and spinal cords from cattle younger than 30 months. A referendum could be a bargaining chip in the process, she said.

“Government policy must be in line with public opinion in order to be legitimate. This is a simple democratic principle with a long history,” Lu said.

Also yesterday, Cabinet Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the government would support the amendment as long as it meets three conditions: It should dispel the public’s concerns, facilitate administrative measures to block ground beef and bovine offal and not violate WTO regulations.

Earlier this week, the Executive Yuan responded to the outcry against its beef policy by announcing administrative measures to ban most controversial products. The exception will be bone-in beef. The government said it would block ground beef because it is not accredited with adequate quality assurances from the US Department of Agriculture.

The measures involve thawing imports for examination, causing them to deteriorate in the process.

The US said it was still reviewing the measures.

Washington had welcomed Taiwan’s relaxed beef policy, calling it a triumph for scientific fact in the face of fears of mad cow disease.

The protocol does not outline any ramifications if either party violates the provisions of the document or how to determine when a given meat plant could resume exports to Taiwan if tainted meat is found in its shipments.

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday declined to discuss the agreement except to say that the protocol speaks for itself.

AIT said the US has an ongoing program dedicated to monitoring cattle for Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. Approximately 40,000 cattle are inspected each year. In the 12 months through September, 46,072 animals were tested and cleared of BSE, AIT said. This rate of inspection is 10 times that required by the OIE, it said.

The OIE lists Taiwan and the US in the same category of “controlled BSE risk,” along with Japan, Canada and France.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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