ROUNDUP - Taiwan amends law to reinstate partial ban on US beef

Jan 5, 2010, 12:12 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan's parliament on Tuesday passed an amended food safety bill which would reinstate a ban on some US beef imports, prompting concern from Washington.

'This is to ensure the health of all people in Taiwan,' said Lu Hsueh-chang, caucus leader of the ruling Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, which joined forces with the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party to pass the amended bill.

Under the revised Food Sanitation Act, Taiwan would ban the import of certain cattle parts from countries where mad cow disease has been recorded in the previous 10 years. Imports from the US would be affected until 2016, as the last recorded US case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, was in 2006.

The ban would apply to cattle skulls, brain, eyes, spines, minced beef and offal, all of which are susceptible to carrying BSE, according to Lu.

The US 'deeply regrets' the decision, said Christopher Kavanagh, acting spokesman of the American Institute in Taiwan. In the absence of formal ties between the countries, the institute acts as a de facto US embassy. Kavanagh warned that the action 'will make it more difficult for us to conclude future agreements to expand and strengthen bilateral trade.'

In October, Taipei lifted its import restrictions on US beef from cattle under 30 months old, following lengthy negotiations with Washington. But the removal immediately triggered protests from the public and consumer groups. The ban had been put in place following the first US case of mad cow disease in 2003.

President Ma Ying-jeou defended his administration's lifting of the ban in October, but said he fully understood the health concerns addressed by parliament in amending the bill on Tuesday. 'The administrative department can only respect the parliament's decision' he said.

He added that his government would send a delegation to Washington to limit the damage to diplomatic relations. 'We hope the impact (to Taiwan) would be limited to the trade arena,' and not affect cooperation in matters of security, he said.

Taiwan's economics officials acknowledged the possibility of retaliation from the US, including the postponement of trade talks scheduled to be held in Taipei in February. Taiwan has hoped that these talks would pave the way for a free trade agreement with the US.

A recent opinion poll by the cable news network TVBS showed that 64 per cent of the Taiwanese public supported the parliament's decision. Of these, close to 70 per cent felt that the ban should be applied even at the expanse of US-Taiwan relations.