KMT vice chairman cites beef, TIFA link

“If the beef import issue is not handled properly, the TIFA talks can be suspended,” he said.

“Actually the TIFA talks have been suspended for several years due to the stalled beef issue,” he added.

Chiang arrived in New York Saturday after attending the 60th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.

Chiang said the U.S. officials and congressmen that he had spoken to in Washington had expressed a strong desire that Taiwan could resume beef imports from the United States as soon as possible.

However, Chiang stressed that the U.S. “was not pressuring Taiwan into doing this.”

He said he had told U.S. officials and representatives that there are certain procedures for the Taiwan government to complete before easing restrictions on U.S. beef imports.

Besides, the Taiwan government has other hurdles to overcome over the beef import issue, which has spawned “populist sentiment” in Taiwan, said Chiang, a descendant of former President Chiang Ching-kuo.

The U.S. has pressed Taiwan to lift its ban on beef containing ractopamine, a leanness-enhancing drug that has been found in some shipments of beef from the U.S. that were earlier denied entry into Taiwan.

Amid speculation that the government might ease its ban on the drug to resolve the U.S. beef import row, local pig farmers and the Consumers' Foundation have threatened to stage a protest in Taipei later this month.

The Democratic Progressive Party's legislative caucus last week launched a signature drive to get President Ma to report to the Legislature on the exact position of the government.

The TIFA, signed in September 1994, provides an official framework for Taiwan-U.S. dialogue on trade and economic issues in the absence of diplomatic ties.

Taiwan and the U.S. have not held TIFA talks since 2007, mainly because of controversy over beef imports from the United States due to reported cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

The talks, originally scheduled to resume in early 2011, were further delayed after Taiwan found ractopamine in beef products that same year and blocked their entry.

Taiwan's government, meanwhile, played down Chiang's claim that U.S. beef and TIFA are linked.

“Neither the United States nor Taiwan has mentioned there is a connection between the two, and let's not accentuate that,” said Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung.

However, he did say the government needs to handle the U.S. beef issue with caution and prudence.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government does not have a set position on handling the U.S. beef issue.

“We'll build consensus internally first before talking to the U.S. on this issue,” the ministry said.

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