Government makes last-ditch effort on beef issue: official

The spokesman made the remarks ahead of a meeting between Ma and the Legislature's leader over the beef issue, as lawmakers showed strong intentions to ban the high-risk imports.

"President Ma Ying-jeou will meet with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng later in the day for a discussion of the issue," said the spokesman Tony Wang.

The presidential aide said the administration is still looking to introduce measures that can impose stricter controls on the beef imports - rather than ban them.

But the administration would be willing to bear the consequences if the Legislature is determined to revise the Act Governing Food Sanitation to force the re-opening of talks with the United States on the beef imports, the aide said.

Coming out of his meeting with the president later, the legislative speaker said Ma hopes lawmakers from the ruling and opposition camps can hold a final round of talks before the Legislature reviews the proposed revisions to the law on Jan. 29.

The Presidential Office will respect any decision by the lawmakers, but it wants to stress that the controls the administration is seeking to introduce will be sufficient to safeguard the health of the people, the speaker said.

The administration-proposed measures seek to set controls on beef imports at the source, at the borders and in the markets.

The administration has also proposed strict certifications for the imports.

Ma's decision to meet with the legislative speaker came after National Security Council Secretary General Su Chi urged lawmakers and the public a day earlier not to demand a re-opening of the beef talks with the United States.

He warned that reneging on an agreement to lift a ban on the imports would hurt relations.

Taiwan agreed to lift a ban on imports of U.S. bone-in beef, offal and ground beef on Nov. 2, based on a protocol that it signed with the U.S. in October.

But the lifting of the ban has sparked widespread criticism and concern about public health safety due to fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

Many lawmakers have blamed Su for putting Taiwan in such a difficult situation by masterminding the lifting of the ban.

Foreign Minister Timothy Chin-tien Yang said that Taiwan should not break its promise after signing an international agreement, as doing so will undermine its international credibility.

"As a responsible member of the international community... Taiwan should categorically not renege on its promise after signing a deal," Yang said.

But KMT legislative whip Lu Hsueh-chang said that over half of his colleagues from the ruling party would support an amendment version seeking to bar imports of high-risk beef products.

The version, authored by KMT Legislator Daniel Huang, stipulates that imports of ground beef, beef offal and four other categories of beef products should be banned if the supplying country has been a mad cow disease affected area, Lu said.

Opposition lawmakers are also demanding for a similar ban on high-risk beef products.

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