Tuesday, January 05, 2010

U.S. 'deeply regrets' legislature's move on beef

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) The United States "deeply regrets" the Legislative Yuan's move to impose restrictions on U.S. beef products and urged the island to abide by the protocol on beef signed two months ago, a spokesman for the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said Tuesday.

"The United States deeply regrets the Legislative Yuan's decision to restrict U.S. beef imports and the legislature's decision to abrogate the bilateral protocol being negotiated in good faith disregard both science-based standards as well as the findings of Taiwan's own risk assessment, " AIT spokesman Christopher Kavanagh told the Central News Agency.

The legislature earlier in the day passed a controversial amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation that will ban imports of specific beef products from countries with documented mad cow disease cases over the past decade.

The legislation will effectively bar U.S. ground beef, beef offal and other beef parts such as the skull, eyes and intestines from access to Taiwan's market, in contravention of a bilateral beef trade protocol signed by the two countries in October.

"This action also undermines Taiwan's credibility as a responsible trading partner and will make it more difficult for us to conclude future agreements to expand and strengthen bilateral trade and economic ties going forward," Kavanagh said.

The spokesman described passage of the amendment as "particularly disappointing" because the United States has long been one of Taiwan's most important trade and investment partners and a strong supporter of Taiwan's participation in the global trading system, including its membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

"In light of this legacy and the continuing importance of our bilateral economic relationship, we urge Taiwan to honor its commitment and to implement the beef protocol as negotiated, " Kavanagh said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will issue a joint statement on the issue later, according to the AIT.