The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT, 美國在台協會) yesterday defended an agreement signed between the US and Taiwan that permits the importing of US meat products, saying the deal was "fair." But the announcement sparked scathing criticism from local agriculture officials.
"We believe the agreement is fair for Taiwan and US farmers and provides substantial benefits to Taiwan consumers," said the AIT -- which is the US representative office in Taiwan in the absence of formal ties -- in a written statement.
The agreement -- referred to as the "down payment" -- was signed in 1998 and permits the import of US meat products in return for US support of Taiwan's bid to join the WTO.
The statement came in response to remarks made by Chen Hsi-huang (陳希煌), chairman of the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (農委會), on Wednesday when he said Taiwan would ax the concessions -- which he decried as a form of "US imperialism" -- if the US didn't throw its full support behind Taiwan's WTO bid this year. While local markets have been opened to US meat imports -- and subsequently other WTO member nations -- Taiwan is yet to be admitted to the WTO, a fact that has angered agriculture officials.
But the AIT tried to play down the threat, saying in the statement that "we are pleased that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Council of Agriculture in ... talks last week agreed to continue to fulfill Taiwan's pre-WTO accession commitments concerning meat import quotas."
As for US support of Taiwan's WTO bid, the AIT said: "The US continues to strongly support Taiwan's accession to the World Trade Organization."
However, it was also careful to point out that US support would not be the only factor in the success of Taiwan's bid.
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