The US believes President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has demonstrated the political will to resolve bilateral trade issues, Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) said on Monday following a meeting of senior officials from both countries.
The meeting took place between Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk on the sidelines of an APEC conference in Kazan, Russia, on Sunday.
Kirk told Shih that the US hopes major trade talks with Taiwan would resume once the dispute over Taiwan’s ban on US beef containing the livestock leanness-enhancing agent ractopamine has been resolved.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
In response, Shih said that Taiwan would adopt a four-point policy to address the issue.
An internationally accepted safety level for beef containing traces of ractopamine would be established, imports of beef and pork would be dealt with separately, the clear labeling of imported beef products would be enforced and a ban on imports of beef organs would be maintained, Shih said.
Yuan said the discussions indicated that the Ma administration had the political will to resolve trade issues with the US, particularly the ban on US beef imports containing the controversial chemical additive.
“The US is encouraged by the development,” Yuan said
He said that previously it was US Deputy Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis who handled Taiwan trade affairs, but that this time Kirk met with Shih.
The meeting demonstrated the US’ commitment to Taiwan and sincerity on Taipei’s part, Yuan said. He added that the US beef issue has become a politically sensitive matter that has affected relations between the two sides.
“Once the beef issue is resolved, we can proceed to deal with several other matters,” Yuan said.
Talks between Taiwan and the US under the 1994 bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) have been stalled since 2007 mainly because of US dissatisfaction over Taiwan’s beef import restrictions.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on legislators yesterday to support improving relations between Taiwan and the US by approving the import of US beef containing ractopamine residue.
Resolving the controversial beef issue could help improve Taiwan-US relations and raise the nation’s competitiveness in the global market, said Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the Department of North American Affairs.
“We hope both the ruling and the opposition parties can fully support the positive development of Taiwan-US relations and the government’s policy,” he told a press conference.
Opposition lawmakers have said that Ma is sacrificing the public’s health in exchange for the resumption of TIFA talks.
Denying that the TIFA is “an empty shell,” Linghu said many important issues could be discussed under its framework, including a Taiwan-US free-trade agreement and Taiwan’s admission to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral free-trade pact in the Asia-Pacific region.
“It would be unrealistic not to open the door or approach the negotiation table,” he said.
Taiwan needs to show that it is making an “effort” before it can gain US support for those initiatives, he said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition