After more than a month of deadlock, the legislative plenary session resumed yesterday after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus agreed to temporarily back down from its demand for a statutory ban on imports of US ground beef and bovine offal.
At the center of the controversy is whether to make the ban on US beef mandatory under the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法), with some arguing this would go against the US-Taiwan protocol signed in late October.
The accord allows for the import of US bone-in beef, ground beef, intestines, brains, spinal cords and processed beef from cattle younger than 30 months and that have not been contaminated with “specific risk materials.”
The DPP proposal would see a mandatory ban on bovine offal and ground beef from areas with a history of mad cow disease infections written into the Act. KMT lawmakers are divided on the issue.
A senior KMT official, who requested anonymity, said DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) agreed to stop the legislative protest for one week, after Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) took the initiative to talk to her in order to give the KMT time to deliberate the issue.
Tsai yesterday said the DPP would not waver from its stance, that is, negotiations with Washington on US beef must start afresh or the issue must be put to a referendum.
She rejected speculation that the DPP was using the beef issue to rally support for last week’s local elections or the special municipality polls next year.
“This is a serious and valid health concern that affects everyone living in Taiwan. Taiwan will turn into an international laughingstock if the government insists on implementing its policy,” she said.
KMT caucus whip Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the caucus had not worked out the details of its policy yet, but would follow two basic principles — “to block [the products] outside the country’s borders and to ensure that changes do not violate the Taiwan-US protocol.”
Some KMT members have said they will support the amendment proposed by KMT Legislator Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) that products from areas with a history of mad cow disease infections, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), should be banned from entry.
In May 2007, the World Organization for Animal Health formally classified the US as a “controlled risk” country for BSE.
However, the proposal does not have the backing of the government, with National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) and Vice Minister of the Interior Lin Join-sane (林中森) telling lawmakers not to support it.
“In Hwang’s version, extending the ban on the products to ‘areas with a history of mad cow disease infections’ could violate the US-Taiwan protocol,” Lu said.
Hwang disagreed with the government's position.
“The legal status of the protocol is just an administrative directive, which is beneath a law. The legislature has the right to enact or amend a law to override the protocol,” Hwang said.
Hwang said he would not insist that the phrase “from areas with a history of mad cow disease infections” be incorporated in the Act as long as risky products could be blocked from entering the country.
KMT Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉), had proposed delegating the right to block imports of what are deemed high-risk beef products to the administrative branch.
However, Kung and other KMT lawmakers who cosigned the version later agreed to support to Hwang's version following mounting complaints against the protocol.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said the DPP caucus would be happy to negotiate with the KMT caucus based on the proposed amendment pitched by Hwang.
Meanwhile, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director William Stanton yesterday visited Wang and Tsai, expressing his hope that Taiwan abide by the protocol.
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