The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday remained mum on the possible resumption of high-level bilateral trade talks between the US and Taiwan under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), although President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has reversed a policy position in a bid to resolve one of the major trade disputes bound up with the negotiations.
The Executive Yuan on Monday night proposed a four-point policy position to conditionally lift the ban on imports of US beef containing ractopamine residue, saying it would be guided by the principles of “allowing a safe level of ractopamine in beef, separating the permits for importing beef and pork, clearly labeling beef imports and excluding imports of internal organs.”
AIT spokesperson Christopher Kavanagh yesterday said the AIT welcomed the announcement, but offered no details about its views on the policy positions.
“We are still studying the statement and will be following up with Taiwanese officials,” Kavanagh said. “But we welcome science-based decisions on food safety and, of course, the scientific evidence is quite clear that US beef is safe.”
Following Monday evening’s announcement, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said Taipei’s move to resolve the ractopamine issue would help bilateral talks between the Taiwan and the US “get back on track.”
Kavanagh was relatively reserved on this issue, saying he “can’t speculate” on the possible resumption of TIFA talks.
The US unexpectedly put a hold on TIFA talks, originally scheduled to resume in late January last year, over the ractopamine issue. The annual TIFA talks, which started in 1994, have been suspended since 2007 in response to Taiwan banning imports of US beef over fears of mad cow disease.
AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt earlier last month in no uncertain terms linked the dispute to Taiwan’s chances of being admitted to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), saying Taiwan has to make progress in its trade policies — including those in the agricultural, pharmaceutical and financial industries — to be ready for the TPP and to engage in free-trade agreement talks with its trading partners.
The abrupt postponement of a recent visit to Taipei by US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez was said to be the latest move by the US to put pressure on Taiwan over the beef issue.
Asked about the role of the US in the government’s policy reversal on ractopamine, Kavanagh did not address the connection between the issues.
“Our position has been very consistent that food safety decisions should be based on scientific evidence. That’s why we put out the fact sheets linked to international studies about the safety of the ractopamine,” Kavanagh said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching