Legislators across party lines reached a consensus yesterday to pass a proposed amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) that would ban imports of “risky” beef products from areas where cases of mad cow disease have been documented over the past decade.
The bill stipulates that “risky” products, including brains, eyes, spinal cords, intestines and ground beef, should be prohibited from entering Taiwan until effective treatment for the disease has been found.
The bill was proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交) and backed by the KMT caucus. It will be put to the third reading next Tuesday, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday afternoon.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lawmakers reached an agreement after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators occupied the speaker’s podium, stacking it with placards and stalling the KMT’s plan to call for a vote on Hwang’s proposal.
The DPP proposal is similar to the KMT’s, but also seeks to ban bone-in beef and beef from cows older than 30 months of age from places hit by the disease over the past decade.
Legislators also agreed to vote on two DPP-sponsored resolutions on Tuesday: One would require that imports of bone-in beef be banned until a referendum is held on the matter; the second seeks to ban imports of products from cows older than 30 months of age.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration agreed to lift a ban on imports of US bone-in beef, offal and ground beef based on a protocol that it signed with the US in October, triggering widespread criticism because of fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
KMT and DPP lawmakers proposed their draft amendments to the Act amid growing pressure from the public.
The DPP has demanded the Executive Yuan reopen negotiations with the US on the protocol covering US beef imports. National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起), however, ruled out a new round of talks during a press conference last Thursday, saying such a move would jeopardize Taiwan-US relations.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) told a press conference after yesterday’s session that the caucus had never compromised on its insistence on tightening beef imports even if its members had come under pressure from all sectors, “including the US.”
Lu said lawmakers also agreed on the KMT’s resolution that the KMT, the DPP and the government stand together in the face of pressure from other countries after the bill clears the legislative floor.
The DPP caucus called yesterday’s outcome a “giant victory for the people” and insisted that a referendum on bone-in US beef be held before the meat is allowed to enter the country.
Noting that the DPP caucus made two last-minute proposals — that the ban on meat from cattle above 30 months be maintained and that a referendum on US bone-in beef imports be held — DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said: “This is a choice between your taste buds and your health.”
The DPP caucus said the outcome was a product of a two-month dispute between the DPP and the KMT.
The DPP caucus blamed the Ma administration and the KMT for “wasting” two months and called on Ma to apologize and for Su to resign because he was the “brains” behind the deal.
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesman Thomas Hodges said AIT was “disappointed” with the outcome, but declined to elaborate.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) deputy spokesman James Chang (章計平) said safeguarding the public’s health was the government’s foremost concern, but it was also crucial for Taiwan to respect the protocol it signed with the US.
Chang did not comment on whether the matter had affected bilateral relations and said the ministry would not say anything more until the vote.
Earlier yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government would like to renegotiate the matter with the US, even though a mandatory renegotiation was scheduled at six months after the signing of the protocol in late October.
The government will respect the legislature’s revision of the Act “no matter how it is amended” and will try to obtain the US’ understanding, Wu said in an interview on China Television Co.
On a proposal by consumer groups to hold a referendum on whether the government should start renegotiations with the US, Wu said this should be regarded as “a last resort,” to be used when other measures are exhausted.
“Referendums are not forbidden and no one has the right to obstruct a referendum. But we should avoid them unless it is absolutely necessary,” Wu said.
If lawmakers reach a consensus on the Act to incorporate articles to ensure the safety of US beef imports and relieve public concerns about the products, it would not be necessary to put the issue to a referendum, he said.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
RSS