By Jenny W. hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Oct 25, 2009, Page 3
Less than 24 hours after American Institute in Taiwan (AIT)
Director William Stanton said in Taipei that “sensitivity”
to public sentiment had to be applied to the issue of
reintroducing US beef in Taiwan and that it should be done
“gradually,” Taiwan and the US signed an accord in
Washington whereby a three-year ban on US bone-in beef and
other beef products was lifted.
The controversial move has caused an uproar in Taiwan, with
sharp criticism from both sides of the political aisle.
While the government has presented it strictly as a
food-safety issue, some analysts said the move was a
political measure by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)
to fix his relations with Washington without giving any
regard to expert advice from the Department of Health (DOH).
The US beef saga has been punctuated with multiple openings
and closings.
In 2003, Taiwan banned US beef after a case of bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) — commonly known as mad cow
disease — was discovered in Seattle. The ban lasted until
2005, when the government gave the green light for boneless
beef from cattle under 30 months of age.
The ban was reinstated two months later after a second case
of BSE was confirmed in the US.
In 2006, the DOH announced on its Web site that it was once
again lifting the ban, with the condition that only boneless
beef from cattle younger than 30 months produced by
certified slaughterhouses were permitted to enter Taiwan.
The move sparked criticism, mostly from then-Taiwan
Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛),
who accused the government of toying with public welfare to
curry favor with Washington.
Since the partial lift three years ago, the US government
has pushed Taiwan for a comprehensive opening to a full
range of US beef and beef products.
Taiwan’s reluctance, however, resulted in unwillingness by
the US to hold regular Trade and Investment Framework
Agreement (TIFA) talks with Taiwan
Hours before the agreement on beef imports was signed,
Stanton said in Taipei that beef negotiations were in their
final phase and that TIFA talks would most likely be held
before the end of the year.
“US beef is definitely a political move. It could even have
been made so that the proposed US arms sale to Taiwan would
go through more quickly. Perhaps it was timed around [US]
President Barack Obama’s visit to Asia so he would have
something to bring back home. But it was also a way for Ma
to ease the US concerns over his China-friendly policies,”
said Luo Chih-cheng (羅致政),
a professor of political science at Soochow University.
Luo said he did not believe that Taiwan’s hope of joining
the US visa-waiver program was a factor in the decision,
because inclusion in the program was a technical issue that
hinges on Taiwan’s passport issuance process.
Meanwhile, National Dong Hwa University professor Shih
Cheng-feng (施正鋒)
said that: “Even if we delink the beef issue from politics,
it is doubtful that Ma has done a good job safeguarding the
health of Taiwanese.”
If the government had treated the US beef quagmire solely on
the basis of health, he said, it would have been easier to
reject US demands because “who would argue against
protecting the health of your citizens?”
If Ma administration had stood its ground, the US would have
had no choice but to back off, he said.
“It is safe to say that reopening Taiwan to US beef at this
time was Ma’s way to appease the US government, which has
been very suspicious of his leadership and intentions
because he has been so China-friendly,” he said.
Lai Yi-chung (賴怡忠),
a researcher at Taiwan Think Tank, said he suspected Ma was
using US beef as a salve to mollify his image in Washington.
“From being slow in accepting US offers of assistance during
Typhoon Morakot to Ma’s eagerness to create rapprochement
with Beijing, these actions have made Washington and
countries in the region question his ultimate strategy,”
said Lai, who once served as deputy of the Democratic
Progressive Party’s International Affairs Department. “One
can speculate that relaxing the ban on US beef could
expedite the arms sale or Taiwan’s inclusion in the
visa-waiver program. But the root of the problem is that
this shows us that Ma is losing his grip on the bottom
line.”
Alexander Huang (黃介正),
a professor at the Graduate Institute of the Americas at
Tamkung University, said the Ma administration must release
the country’s standards on US beef so that the public can
compare national standards with those in Japan and South
Korea.
South Korea was the latest Asian country to abolish the ban
on US beef — on the condition that only boneless meat from
cattle under 30 months of age would be permitted to enter
the market.
“If the meat truly meets our standards and is also
acceptable in other countries, then it should not be a big
issue,” he said, adding that whether the move was a
political gambit by either government had yet to be
determined.
Luo and Shih said the DOH was ignored in the process and
that the decision was made by the upper echelons of the
government.
“Judging from DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang’s [楊志良]
comments, it is clear that he disagrees with the government
— he even feels that Taiwan has conceded too much,” Luo
said, referring to the minister’s comments during a press
conference, where he said he was “unsatisfied” with the
outcome and that opening Taiwan’s market to US beef offal
was beyond what he had anticipated.
Yang did not sit at the negotiation table with the US. The
talks were led by DOH Deputy Minister Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲).
While Yang yesterday offered to resign, Luo said this would
be the wrong person to step down because it would mean that
the official who made the decision would remain in office.
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