The passage of a referendum seeking to ban imports of pork containing traces of the feed additive ractopomine could undermine Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as it could be interpreted as a lack of determination to embrace free trade, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Tuesday.
“This is the most important display of willpower [for Taiwan], in which a country’s determination is examined,” Tsai said during a podcast in which she detailed the government’s opposition to a referendum slated for Dec. 18.
The referendum asks voters: “Do you agree that the government should prohibit imports of pork, offal or other related products that contain the beta agonist ractopamine?”
Photo: CNA
While the question does not connect ractopomine pork with US pork, Tsai urged the public to vote “No” in the referendum, saying that whether Taiwan allows such imports from the US would be scrutinized by the world as it weighs the nation’s willingness to open its markets.
All of the CPTPP’s 11 signatory countries have approved the import of such products from the US, and they will be checking if Taiwan is prepared to clear difficult hurdles to comply with the world’s high-standards in free trade, she said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which initiated the referendum in an attempt to overturn the government’s decision to lift the ban on pork imports containing ractopamine at the beginning of this year, has said such an argument is irrelevant as the US is not a CPTPP member.
Domestically, Taiwan still bans the use of the drug, which is used to enable animals to grow larger and leaner, for both cattle and hogs.
Tsai said that the long-stalled Trade and Investment Framework Agreement between Taiwan and the US was able to resume thanks to the government’s announcement that it would open up to US pork products.
In addition, subsequent trade talks have provided both sides with an ideal platform through which other differences can be resolved, allowing Taiwan to narrow the gap with the US on a range of issues, she said.
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) on Tuesday said that as Taiwan is heavily dependent on trade, the passage of the referendum would showcase the nation’s reluctance to comply with “international standards” and put it at a disadvantage in free-trade agreement negotiations with the US.
No country in the world has left food safety issues to a referendum, Chen said, adding that the initiative is politically motivated.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS