Gov’t denies U.S. pressure on pork imports

The Office of the President regrets that a news media reported on the linkage between the pork imports and a referendum on Taiwan’s admission to the United Nations under its name, its spokesman Lee Nan-yang said.

A mass-circulation paper, the China Times, ran a story charging the administration with insisting on lifting the ban on such pork imports despite opposition from local hog farmers, because Washington has indicated it would moderate its harsh stand on the referendum.

China Times last night said it will disclose where it got the story in today’s paper.

Ractopamine, a feed additive to promote leanness in pigs raised for meat, is banned in Taiwan. Ractopamine chloride, sold by the U.S. company Elanco Animal Health under the brand name of Paylean, caused considerable controversy here in the summer.

Taiwan rejected two shipments, while the government was considering lifting the ban. This resulted in mass protests in Taipei by swine farmers insisting that the ban remain in place.

Hou Sheng-mou, minister of health, declared not long ago that there would be no lifting of the ban unless related laws were amended.

“There has never been any trading-off,” Lee said. “There never has been any linkage,” he pointed out.

A referendum is an internal affair of a sovereign state, and there can be no interference from any other country, Lee declared. “We deeply regret that the media made an untrue report,” he added.

James Huang, foreign minister, demanded that the China Times produce what it called a secret document it had obtained to prove the linkage.

“We are indignant,” Huang said, “that such a false report was printed.” Washington is strongly opposed to President Chen Shui-bian’s call for the referendum. The paper quoted Stephen Young, American Institute in Taiwan director, as describing the pork imports clearly as a “political question,” hinting the United States would mitigate its opposition, if the ban on ractopamine were lifted.

“That’s absolutely not true,” Huang stressed, adding: “The government has never lifted the ban. How come a media could charge that the government insists on lifting the ban?”

Huang admitted that Taiwan and the United States are trying to settle the problem concerning ractopamine-laced pork. “That, however, cannot be construed as American pressure to force us to import,” he pointed out.

Should no secret document be produced, Huang said, the China Post should offer a public apology. “At the same time, it has to dedicate the same space (it used to print the linkage story) to a government clarification,” he insisted.

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