HK Weekly: Tsai Gov’t Plans to Swap Radiation-Contaminated Food Imports from Japan with EPA
2016/12/06
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HK Weekly: Tsai Gov’t Plans to Swap Radiation-Contaminated Food Imports from Japan with EPA
Source: China Times
December 6, 2016
According to the latest Hong Kong-based Yazhou Zhoukan weekly (《亞洲週刊》), the Tsai Ing-wen government plans to lift the ban on Japanese food imports from radiation-stricken areas. The weekly reported that the Tsai government’s plan to lift the ban might involve an exchange of interests between Japan and Taiwan.
According to the weekly, Chiu I-jen (邱義仁), president of the Association of East Asian Relations, originally invited to serve as an advisor in order to provide guidance to the ROC delegation, before departure, was appointed to head the ROC delegation to the first Taiwan-Japan dialogue on cooperation involving oceanic affairs, held in Tokyo from October 31 to November 1. Moreover, after the talks were concluded, Chiu did not immediately return to Taiwan. Instead, Chiu stayed in Japan for one more day to join Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Secretary-General of the National Security Council, to meet with Japanese Cabinet officials.
An informed source said that during the meeting, Chiu and Wu promised the Japanese Cabinet officials that the Tsai government would announce to the Taiwan people on November 17 that it planned to lift the ban on Japanese food imports from radiation-stricken areas in January. The Japanese Cabinet officials replied that if everything went well, it would initiate negotiations on a Taiwan-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) at the 41st Taiwan-Japan trade and economic talks scheduled to be held from November 29-30 in Taipei.
According to the weekly, Taiwan media outlets have reported on the exchange of interests between Japan and Taiwan. Moreover, one week after the Tsai government was sworn in, the Japanese media reported that Taiwan was about to lift the ban on Japanese food imports from radiation-affected areas.
Following the DPP’s victory in the Presidential Election on January 16, Nobuo Kishi (岸信夫), a brother of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晉三), called on President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taipei on May 5 to congratulate her. The same informed source noted that Kishi’s meeting with Tsai was centered on lifting the ban on Japanese food imports from radiation-stricken areas.
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