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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Cabinet postpones decision on lifting food import ban
HEAT: Japan has been pressuring Taiwan to lift a ban on food imports from five of its prefectures, but the government would proceed carefully, a Cabinet official said
By Lee Hsin-fang and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Executive Yuan has postponed a decision on allowing food product imports from five Japanese prefectures due to growing public opposition galvanized by interference from the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT）, a high-level Cabinet official said.
The possibility of a decision being made before the Lunar New Year in January is low, said the official, who declined to be named, adding that after the Executive Yuan receives an assessment report from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the matter, a final decision would be subjected to an evaluation by the National Security Council.
The Executive Yuan initially decided to allow food imports from Japan’s Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures, but postponed it amid increasing protests led by the KMT.
Japan has been pressuring Taiwan to allow imports, the official said, but the government has said that it will proceed cautiously given public opposition.
The government has no predisposed decision regarding the import ban and there is no timeline for making a decision, the official added.
Initial plans from the health ministry and the Council of Agriculture called for easing the restrictions on food imports from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures in two stages, with the first stage excluding Fukushima Prefecture and putting imports from the remaining prefectures through strict inspections.
In addition, importers of high-risk food products from certain parts of Japan would be required to submit a place of origin certificate issued by Japanese authorities, as well as a radiation test report.
After the KMT and opponents of lifting the ban boycotted 10 public hearings held by the health ministry across the nation from Nov. 12 to 14, the Executive Yuan felt that the meetings have been held hastily, the official said.
However, the health ministry should not be blamed for the chaos surrounding the issue, the official said, adding the blame falls on the KMT, which has politicized the issue in an apparent attempt to galvanize political conflicts and blur the matter, the official said.
Since the Cabinet has announced that it will hold three more hearings on Dec. 25, Jan. 2 and Jan. 8, the official said they would conclude the procedures left unfinished from the previous hearings and conduct a more thorough evaluation of the proposal.
Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung （徐國勇） recently said that an assessment of the import ban would be made following the three hearings.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
