Taiwan should see its ties with the US improve further after a referendum advocating a ban on imports of pork containing the feed additive ractopamine failed to pass on Saturday, academics said.
Taiwan Institute of Economic Research president Chang Chien-yi (張建一) was among those who were upbeat about bilateral ties following the vote, saying that economic cooperation should continue and Washington could lend more support for Taiwan’s bid to participate in international organizations.
The referendum on reinstating a ban on imports of ractopamine was one of four held on Saturday. “No” votes slightly outnumbered “yes” votes on all four questions, and turnout was too low for the referendums to pass.
Photo: Wu Chia-ying, Taipei Times
On the pork question, 3,936,554 people (48.79 percent) voted for the ban, and 4,131,203 people (51.21 percent) voted against, with a turnout of only 41.09 percent.
To pass, the number of “yes” votes would have had to exceed 4,956,367 votes, or at least 25 percent of all eligible voters, and outnumber the number of “no” votes.
The US has long pressured Taiwan to accept its pork with ractopamine, a feed additive that many countries, including Taiwan, ban their livestock farmers from using, because of its potential risks to animals and humans.
Taiwan’s longtime import ban, which was only lifted at the beginning of this year, was considered an impediment to trade by the US, and Washington suspended talks under the bilateral Trade & Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) as long as the ban was in place.
Roy Chun Lee (李淳), senior deputy CEO of the Taiwan WTO & RTA Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said he expected Washington to continue the TIFA talks, which resumed in June.
The US-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, which was held for the second time last month, and the newly established Technology Trade and Investment Collaboration framework between the two economies are also expected to continue, Lee said.
More importantly, the US has placed more emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region and boosted economic ties with it, and has proposed an Indo-Pacific economic framework that it hopes to launch early next year.
He said the referendum results are expected to raise Taiwan’s odds of joining the Indo-Pacific economic framework, which would cover a wide range of issues, such as supply chains and logistics.
Earlier this month, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed interest in taking part in the newly proposed framework.
National Chengchi University professor emeritus Ting Shu-fan (丁樹範) said that Taiwan has become part of the US’ core interests, reflected by Washington’s decision to send a senior diplomat, Sandra Oudkirk, to Taiwan as the director of American Institute in Taiwan in July.
Oudkirk has previously served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Washington has also been eager to compete with China in the region, and the failed referendum on pork containing ractopamine is expected to allow Washington to give more support to Taipei by leveraging cross-strait ties to counter China.
Li Che-chuan (李哲全), an associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the failed referendum on the ban on US pork showed that the government is reliable and that the results are expected to earn more trust from the US.
With deeper trust, high-ranking economic and strategic dialogues between Taiwan and the US are expected to proceed, Li said.
Taiwan had long banned imports of pork containing ractopamine, a policy that the Democratic Progressive Party backed for more than a decade whether as an opposition or ruling party.
However, Taiwan began allowing imports of pork containing ractopamine on Jan. 1 after Tsai on Aug. 28 last year announced that the nation would set standards for pork with ractopamine and allow imports of US beef from cattle more than 30 months old.
Tsai’s announcement sparked an outcry among many who were concerned about food safety, leading to the referendum initiated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲).
Lin tendered his resignation as KMT deputy general-secretary after Saturday’s vote to take responsibility for the defeat.
STILL SEEKING ACCEPTANCE: US agencies other than the Department of Homeland Security agree that Taiwan should be included in the US border preclearance program Washington rejected Taiwan’s application to join the US border preclearance program because it aims to first prioritize areas with a greater security threat, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan is still pursuing membership. Taiwan in 2020 applied to set up a US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) preclearance facility at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, meant to expedite travel to the US by allowing passengers to submit to immigration and customs inspections before boarding their flight. However, the CBP last year rejected the application. At a routine hearing of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Wu
PRIORITIZING HEALTH: Chen Shih-chung and a KMT lawmaker had a heated exchange about COVID-19 deaths and food imports from five Japanese prefectures The government expects soon to sign a deal for additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday. “We are discussing a new contract” to obtain more doses of the vaccine and it is “likely to be finalized soon,” Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), told a news briefing, when asked how many doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are left. Concern has been raised over supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine ahead of a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Thursday next week to discuss whether to authorize booster
The Economic Democracy Union yesterday urged the government to establish regulatory control measures for Shopee capital to deter Chinese economic influence in Taiwan. Civic groups are calling for Shopee to commission licensed electronic payment services to handle all transactions on its platform, as the current situation is unfair to certified services and the platform lacks consumer guarantees, Economic Democracy Union researcher Hsu Kuan-tze (許冠澤) said. The Investment Commission’s performance cannot compete with the US Committee on Foreign Investment, which plays a critical role in overseeing US national and economic security, union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said. Despite the success of the 2014 Sunflower
Kaohsiung authorities have arrested five people and seized almost 1,000 pouches containing a mix of narcotics, while 29 Vietnamese migrant workers are facing separate charges after allegedly being found in possession of drugs at a party. Kaohsiung police officials yesterday said that reports had been received that a crime ring had set up a call center to respond to online adverts for narcotics and was delivering the goods using taxis. After surveilling the operation, police arrested four drivers and arrested a man surnamed Hsu (徐) in a rented building in Kaohsiung’s Singsin District (新興). “Hsu was in charge of the place. It was
RSS