By Mo Yan-chih / Staff Reporter
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday dismissed the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) continued criticisms of the government’s US beef import policy, urging the opposition party to focus political debate on the economy and other issues.
KMT spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) defended what he said was the neutral stance of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration on the issue and said the DPP was using its officials to make the public believe that the former DPP government had not promised the WTO it would lift a ban on meats containing ractopamine in 2007.
“The DPP’s manipulation of the US beef issue shows that it always manipulates the truth and politicizes major issues,” Yin said. “Instead of lying and manipulating, the DPP should focus its attention on other major issues and explain its global strategies for the economy and trade rather than adopting anti-China and anti-US stances.”
The DPP has accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of trying to shift responsibility for the beef issue to the former DPP administration and said Ma should apologize for lying about having no timetable or a predetermined stance on US beef.
Ma, on his Facebook page, reiterated yesterday the importance for the nation to address the US beef import issue to facilitate bilateral talks between Taiwan and the US over the stalled Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) , and warned that the signing of a free-trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the US highlighted the urgency for Taiwan to speed up participation in regional economic integration.
“The US-South Korea FTA is a warning sign for us. It highlights the importance for Taiwan to speed up the process of economic transformation, and we must make major breakthroughs and strive for better economic performance,” he wrote.
Signing FTAs or economic pacts with major trading partners and getting involved in regional economic integration have been long-term goals of the government, Ma added.
“The lack of progress on US beef imports, however, has stalled the TIFA negotiations for five years. For the sake of economic transformation and the improvement of Taiwan-US relations, we must solve the issue as soon as possible,” Ma said, emphasizing the importance of creating opportunities and making efforts to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade regime within the next 10 years.
Separately yesterday, the DPP urged the Ma administration not to govern using the campaign-style tactic of mudslinging and shirking its responsibility now that the presidential election has passed.
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said if Ma had the public’s health in mind, he should first prove that animal feed additives are harmless.
“While the president has said the resumption of the TIFA negotiations were stalled for five years because of the then-DPP administration’s failure to lift the ban, it appears that Ma has forgotten who has been governing the country for the past four years,” Lin added.
Additional reporting by Chris Wang