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.
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