A seven-member delegation of officials and experts left for Beijing yesterday to discuss establishing a cross-strait mechanism to share information on food safety and deal with tainted food crises.
Led by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) vice secretary-general, Chang Shu-ti (張樹棣), the group of health and food experts will be in Beijing for three days to discuss the issue with their Chinese counterparts.
Chang yesterday said they would have some preparatory work to do after arriving in Beijing in the afternoon and would start discussions today. Chang said he was unclear about today’s schedule and who they would talk to.
Chang said the delegation would write a report after it returned tomorrow. He said he was unsure whether there would be a press conference at that point or whether they would present their findings to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) first.
Chang said the SEF’s goal was to establish a communication channel for experts from both sides of the Taiwan Strait to share food safety information, such as how melamine was added to certain products, what inspection processes and standards are employed in China and how to prevent future food scandals.
Bureau of Health Promotion Director-General Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲) said she would like to meet officials from China’s inspection bureau and other experts to broaden her understanding of the melamine scandal.
She said she also hoped to learn about China’s food safety procedures and, most importantly, work toward a communication channel — modeled on the mechanism to share information on contagious diseases — to prevent tainted products from entering Taiwan without having to notify the SEF.
A senior official at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) who asked to remain anonymous said the delegation should be careful about visiting any milk companies, because it might be misconstrued as an endorsement.
The official said the delegation was likely to meet Chinese officials, but because they were not authorized to negotiate, the purpose of their trip would merely be to lay the groundwork for a cross-strait food safety mechanism.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has proposed setting up a direct line to Beijing authorities for cases in which there are concerns about tainted products entering Taiwan.
MAC Vice Chairman Liu Teh-hsun (劉德勳), however, said it did not matter whether there was such a line, as long as there was a channel for “direct,” “practical” and “effective” communication.
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