Premier Wu Deng-yih said yesterday American cattle viscera and ground beef will not come to the local market because as far as he understands, no importer will be filing applications for importing such products.

Like President Ma Ying-jeou, Wu said the government has no plans to reopen talks with the United States on beef imports for now.

But the premier noted that while the government has maintained friendly procedures and administrative measures for U.S. beef, but those concerning the more controversial products will be more complicated.

Wu stressed that the issue regarding U.S. beef imports is not necessarily about just health risks or food safety, it is all about consumer concerns, so the government needs to face it seriously.

The central government will not object to or interfere with the complementary and preventive measures adopted by local-level administrations to safeguard the health and safety of the people in their areas. The government appreciates such efforts and measures, Wu said.

Su Jun-pin, Executive Yuan (Cabinet) spokesman, said Premier Wu has asked the Bureau of Food Safety under the Department of Health (DOH) at a Cabinet meeting to assist importers of U.S. beef to form an association as a “second tier” regulator to enhance supervision and control of the beef imports.

DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang said that the government will immediately stop U.S. beef imports if even just one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, linking to U.S. products is found in Taiwan.

Yaung made the remarks while responding to a question by a ruling Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker at a legislative committee meeting.

As a sovereign state, the nation has the right to take all necessary measures, including detailed examination of every shipment of the beef products, to protect the people, he said.

Under the mounting public opposition and pressure over the relaxation of U.S. beef imports, Yaung had orally presented a request for resignation. But Premier Wu has turned down his request.

President Ma's own popularity rating also took a drop in some new public opinion polls.

Members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from the Taipei City Council and other councils in Taiwan led groups of protesters to the Presidential Office and Executive Yuan in the morning to stage protests against the new beef policy. They demanded new talks on the beef deal.

A much larger and extensive demonstration is under organization. DPP officials expressed the concern that government agencies' existing monitoring and inspection mechanism as well as the so-called “second tier” self-managed measures planned by local administrations or beef traders are insufficient in blocking the inroads of U.S. beef viscera.

Ma claimed the terms in the new beef accord should be adequate to safeguard the people's health.

But there in no need to harm the nation's international credibility to reopen trade consultations, especially after importers and retailers plan to implement accompanying precaution measures for the sake of their customers, Ma said.

Christopher R. Kavanaugh, spokesman at the Taipei Office of the Washington-based American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), reaffirmed that the beef trade between the U.S. and Taiwan will be carried out in accordance with the terms in the new beef trade pact.

He stressed that American beef products have been cleared by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as safe to consume.

Kavanaugh made no comments on the protest movements led by the DPP and consumers organizations or the preventive self-management measures adopted by the growing number of local municipal or county governments and some importers group.

Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang clarified at the legislative meeting that the nation gained nothing from its consent to easing U.S. beef imports during the latest round of talks.

There were no other terms or conditions attached to the deal, although he expects the deal to have more positive effects on future bilateral activities and negotiations, including the stalled talks on the trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA), Shih told the legislators.

The Cabinet-level DOH announced on Oct. 23 that Taiwan would expand market access for U.S. beef after officials of the two countries clinched an accord the previous day in Washington, D.C., to lift a ban on certain beef products.

Under the terms of the new accord, U.S. bone-in beef, ground beef, intestines, brains, spinal cords and processed beef from cattle younger than 30 months that have not been contaminated with “specific risk materials” will be allowed to enter Taiwan starting on Nov. 10.