《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Lifting of food ban rushed: KMT

BACKROOM DEALS: Legislator May Chin said that she suspects the government made a secret deal over imports from Japanese prefectures affected by radiation

By Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

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The Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） caucus yesterday accused the government of rushing through a decision to lift a ban on imports of food products from five Japanese prefectures affected by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.

The Executive Yuan on Thursday evening announced that 10 public hearings are to held nationwide from today to Monday on the issue.

Academics, professionals, civic groups and members of the public have been invited to participate to exchange views on the import of food products from Japan’s Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures.

The KMT caucus, accompanied by Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin （高金素梅）, said that the that the government is “rushing through the hearings, which the public has demanded, just for the sake of holding public hearings.”

KMT Legislator Alicia Wang （王育敏） said that the KMT caucus and Chin had urged the Ministry of Health and Welfare to hold public hearings on the issue before, but the ministry had stubbornly resisted their demand.

“When it finally acceded to the request, it decided to hold four hearings each on Saturday and Sunday” and two on Monday, Wang said.

Wang also questioned the title of the public hearings — “The import of Japanese food” — in the Executive Yuan’s announcement.

“Where did the description ‘radiation-affected regions’ go?” Wang asked.

The government also failed to disclose the names of the academics, professionals and groups that were invited and through what channels they were invited, Wang said.

Chin said she suspects the DPP government made an under-the-table deal with the Japanese government during the Taiwan-Japan talks on maritime affairs late last month.

“I also highly suspect that our government is under pressure to hurry through the public hearings, because it wants Japan’s assistance in building submarines,” she said.

Wang said the 10 public hearings have failed to meet the standards set by the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, and “are therefore invalid.”

She asked people to voice their protest at the hearings.

The Executive Yuan said in the news release that the Japanese government had stepped up its oversight of the manufacturing of food products from the affected regions, and many countries have already completely or conditionally lifted their bans on imports.

It said that the ministry and the Council of Agriculture are mulling a two-stage opening of the market, with the ban on food products from Fukushima remaining in the first stage, while allowing the entry of imports from the four other prefectures, with lot-by-lot inspections and other robust control measures implemented.

The KMT caucus later yesterday filed a legislative motion asking the government not to allow the import of food products from Japan’s radiation-affected prefectures until a mutual legal assistance agreement is signed with Japan.

The motion is to be discussed in a cross-caucus negotiation before being processed.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES