January 7, 2010

Taiwan seeks new US beef deal

As Washington huffed and puffed over Taipei's fickleness over the US beef issue, the Taiwanese government said Wednesday (Jan 6) it would seek to reopen talks with its biggest ally.

Taiwan is ready to restart talks immediately and will ask the US government when it could renegotiate beef-related issues, the Government Information Office said, citing a statement by Premier Wu Den-yih.

The US was upset after Taipei caved in to public concerns about the safety of American beef. On Tuesday (Jan 5), the island's parliament changed a food safety law to ban US bone-in beef, ground beef and offal, which includes parts such as cow brain, despite an October 2009 announcement that Taiwan will reopen its market to those products.

The US said the move undermined Taiwan's credibility as a trading partner. Maintaining that American beef is safe, the US said Taiwan should make its decisions based on science instead of politics. Washington further warned that this issue could make future agreements on bilateral trade and economic ties difficult to conclude.

Washington wants Taipei to abide by the October 22 agreement, the de facto embassy in Taiwan said. It had no comment on Taiwan's request for immediate renegotiations.

Taiwan, however, noted that the move was based on public concerns of mad cow disease, and in itself does not annul the October agreement as imports of other US beef will continue.