President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of July 16, when meeting with former US Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics Dr. Joseph Jen (任筑山), reiterated his hopes that the issue of US beef imports will be able to be resolved at an extraordinary session of the Legislative Yuan that will be convened on July 24. This, he said, will be crucial in paving the way for a rapid resumption of negotiations between Taiwan and the United States on the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), which have been stalled for five years.
In remarks, the president stated that the government has assembled domestic food and livestock experts three times in recent months in an effort to clarify the safety of ractopamine, which is an additive to feed that promotes leanness in livestock. The president said that three conclusions were reached at these meetings. First, to date there has been no large-scale epidemiological study focusing on human consumption of ractopamine in meat products; second, no instance of toxic effects to consumers has been reported; third, 80% of the ractopamine that is consumed through meat products is metabolized by the body within 24 hours. In addition, once Taiwan allows the import of US beef, it will adopt safe tolerance levels, treat beef and pork separately, institute mandatory labeling requirements, and ban the import of offal. This, he mentioned, will ensure food safety for the people of Taiwan.
With regard to safe tolerance levels, President Ma stated that the government intends to follow the standards for maximum residue limits (MRLs) of ractopamine as adopted by Canada, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia, as well as those passed by the global food safety body Codex Alimentarius Commission, which adopts an MRLs of 10 ppb. As for the separate treatment of beef and pork, the president stated that Taiwan consumes far more pork than beef, and 92% of the pork consumed here is produced domestically, with the remaining 8% imported. The situation with beef, however, is reversed. With beef, only 7% of the beef consumed here is produced domestically, while Taiwan relies on imports for their remaining 93%. Of this amount, the United States supplies about one-third. These figures constitute the reason that the government is adopting a policy of treating pork and beef separately.
President Ma emphasized that as a member of the World Trade Organization, Taiwan must comply with international rules and regulations regarding external trade. If it does not abide by related rules, the nation could be subject to sanctions; in the mean time, it could reduce the chances for Taiwan to sign free trade agreements with other nations. In light of this, he said he hopes that the Legislative Yuan will soon resolve the issue of US beef imports when it convenes an extraordinary session. This will be instrumental in enabling negotiations between Taiwan and the United States on the TIFA to resume and will also help create a climate for Taiwan to be able to sign free trade agreements or economic cooperation accords with its major trading partners, thereby creating a more equal climate for imports and exports.
In moving the discussion to Taiwan-US relations, the president stated that shortly after the conclusion of the presidential election here in 2008, former US President George W. Bush spoke with mainland Chinese leader Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) over the telephone. During the discussion, Mr. Hu reiterated that having Taiwan and mainland China recognize the "1992 Consensus" was crucial to resuming negotiations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. President Ma said that he subsequently asked then Vice President-elect Vincent C. Siew (蕭萬長) to attend the Boao Forum for Asia, shortly after which negotiations resumed between the two sides, which had previously been severed for 10 years. President Ma stressed that he will make every effort throughout his life to maintain peace between the two sides, expressing his confidence that only through peaceful development in the Taiwan Strait can various issues gradually be resolved.
The president also mentioned that former Under Secretary Jen on this trip to Taiwan attended ceremonies held over the weekend to commemorate the political victims during the martial law era. President Ma noted that Dr. Jen's father was Jen Hsien-chun (任顯群), a Taiwan provincial Director of Finance during the martial law era. The elder Jen was responsible for instituting the uniform invoice system and the patriot lottery. Dr. Jen's father, the president said, made outstanding contributions to the financial development of Taiwan during his tenure. However, he was also a victim of the martial law era, the president said, noting that he was incarcerated unjustly for many years. The president explained that over 20 years ago, the government began to formulate a framework to provide compensation for those who suffered unjust verdicts and were victims of the 228 Incident and the martial law era. After a long period of efforts, the good name of Dr. Jen's father was restored and he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
President Ma stressed that admitting one's wrongs, apologizing, providing compensation, restoring the good names of people who suffered unjust treatment and establishing memorials constitute a series of steps that the ROC has and will continue to undertake throughout its democratic development. These measures are an important part of realizing transitional justice. The president stated that as the head of state of the ROC and as the chairman of the Kuomintang party, he must bear responsibility for past wrongdoings of the government and the party. Only through this can the nation gradually resolve the never-ending hurt felt in the hearts of the families of the victims. President Ma also pledged that the government in the future will continue with its efforts to make society more harmonious.
Former Under Secretary Jen went to the Presidential Office in the morning to meet with President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Advisor Philip Y. M. Yang (楊永明), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tung Kuoyu (董國猷), Department of Health Deputy Minister Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲), and Council of Agriculture Vice Minister Wang Cheng-teng (王政騰).