U.S. Beef Import Issue: Ma to Take Public Health, National Interests, and US-Taiwan Relations into Account

U.S. Beef Import Issue: Ma to Take Public Health, National Interests, and US-Taiwan Relations into Account

Source: KMT Culture and Communications Committee

Mar. 22, 2012

KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) stated yesterday, March 21^st, at the KMT Central Standing Committee meeting that the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which had already come into effect, would have a significant impact on Taiwan’s trade and investment, adding that the impact on foreign trade might amount to over US$3 billion and the FTA would also increase foreign investors’ willingness to invest in Korea, triggering a domino effect and leading to Taiwan’s being marginalized.

Chairman Ma stated that Taiwan was an island which relied heavily on foreign trade to support its economic development, and we did not want to see U.S.-Taiwan trade shrink, we could not lag too far behind our main competitor Korea, because Korea had not only signed FTAs with the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but also planned to sign a trilateral FTA with the Mainland and Japan. By that time, the advantage that we enjoyed now with the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework (ECFA) would be lost, so the ROC government was actively seeking opportunities to sign FTAs with other countries. Ma went on to explain that by signing the cross-Strait ECFA and the Taiwan-Japan Investment Agreement, we had paved the way for signing an FTA with the U.S. as an eventual goal,  so as to avoid excessive dependence on the Mainland.

Chairman Ma pointed out that Taiwan had completed the process of acceding to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) by negotiating with the U.S. using the platform of the TIFA (The U.S.-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement) signed in 1994. Though TIFA did not equal to an FTA, he said, it was still very important, as it would allow Taiwan to conclude bilateral agreements that would eventually become an FTA or economic cooperation agreements with the U.S., like stacking building blocks. Ma added that, however, if we could not take advantage of the TIFA platform, Taiwan would be marginalized in the process of regional economic integration, adding that the pressure did not originate from the U.S. but within Taiwan itself. Therefore, Ma said, the question was “whether or not we should break through the current predicament and do all we can for a hopeful future.” adding that, the U.S. beef imports issue was the key obstacle at present.

Chairman Ma also indicated that another key point was national credibility, due to the fact that the DPP administration had notified the WTO that Taiwan would determine the maximum permissible quantities of ractopamine residue in 2007. Christopher R. Kavanagh, spokesman of the American Institute in Taiwan, stated on March 9^th that President Ma had not made any promises to the U.S. side on the U.S. beef imports issue; however, former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had made a pledge, because the submission of the notification to the WTO was considered a simultaneous declaration made by Taiwan to its trading partners around the world.

Moreover, Chairman Ma pointed out that Taiwan was under pressure to avoid being marginalized by the international community. At the same time, the ROC government under Chen Shui-bian’s administration had made a pledge to the WTO, so we must resolve the problem as soon as possible, adding that the government would never sacrifice public health for a relaxation of the ban on U.S. beef imports containing ractopamine residue. However, if ractopamine residue contained in the U.S. beef products would indeed harm public health, then the government would rather sacrifice its foreign trade relations or national credibility than loosen the restrictions on imports of U.S. beef containing traces of ractopamine into Taiwan, Ma stressed.

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