[Week 01, a topic of current affairs that fans are concerned about] The problem of beautiful pigs and cows

On August 28, President Tsai Ing-wen announced that , on the premise of safeguarding the health of the people, the import standards for American pigs and American cattle over 30 months of age will be gradually relaxed, and the import is expected to be officially opened on January 1 next year. This issue, which has been pending in Taiwan for nearly 20 years, has finally been finalized, but it has also sparked backlash and doubts from all walks of life.

What are the health hazards of American pigs and cattle, and what is the significance of opening up imports to Taiwan? Follow in the VCR's footsteps and learn from history.

What's wrong with the US pig and US beef?

In 2003, the Chen Shui-bian government, considering that the occurrence of mad cow disease in American cattle, might endanger health, according to the Food Sanitation Management Law, announced that Taiwan would ban the import of American beef, which also started the nearly 20-year dispute between American cattle and pigs. In 2006, because mad cow disease mostly occurred in old cattle, Taiwan opened the import of deboned American calves under 30 months of age, and because of health and safety issues in childhood, Taiwan announced that the use of ractopamine and other " Clenbuterol”, and imported pork containing Clenbuterol.

The following year, President Chen Shui-bian proposed to partially lift the ban and allow pigs taking the fast-metabolizing ractopamine to be imported. The import standards for American cattle were also gradually relaxed during the Malian government period, opening up the import of other meat products such as bone-in, processed, etc., but there are still many opposition from the public. The mad cow disease epidemic in the United States has also triggered a joint request by the opposition parties to remove American cattle, but the Legislative Yuan did not pass the resolution by one vote.

When Obama put forward the "2014 Trade Policy Agenda" report, the United States pointed out that Taiwan's regulations would affect the import of US pigs to Taiwan, and using its international status and the participation of international organizations as incentives, hoped that Taiwan could expand imports of US pigs. Pig and Beef. In 2017, after Trump took office, he directly pointed out that "American cows and pigs" would be the focus of trade with Taiwan.

What exactly is the Tsai government opening up to enter Taiwan?

In the live broadcast on the 28th, President Tsai Ing-wen proposed a loosening mechanism for US pigs and US cattle respectively. US cattle will open the import of US cattle over 30 months old, and US pigs will re-designate the safety tolerance of imported pork containing ractopamine. However, because of the change in feeding methods, and there is still no imported high-risk internal organs such as beef bones and brains, coupled with the disparity in the proportion of Chinese people consuming cattle and pigs, the impact of American cattle is relatively small.

In pork, the detection of clenbuterol was never allowed at all, and was revised to the upper limit of clenbuterol detection of 10ppb for muscle and fat, 90ppb for kidney and 40ppb for liver. Although these standards are in line with the current internationally accepted CODEX tolerance, and the government has also emphasized that it will implement the pork source labeling, due to the many controversies in the past, as well as the influence of poisoning incidents, most Taiwanese people strongly oppose the import of US pigs.

In fact, Taiwan's pork self-sufficiency rate is currently as high as 90%, and Chen Jizhong, chairman of the Agricultural Committee, also promised that even if the standards for imported pigs are revised, because ractopamine does not have any domestic drug license, the application will not be approved in the future. Therefore, domestic pigs will not be approved. There will not be any safety concerns, and many large catering groups have also stated that they will not use Meizhu, so at this stage, you can temporarily not worry too much about the possible impact of Meizhu.

What does the opening of US pigs and US cattle give Taiwan?

Taiwan's domestic pigs are trusted by the Chinese people in terms of quality and safety, and the supply is quite sufficient. Therefore, the demand for imported pigs is not large. Why does the import issue of US pigs continue? Is the ruling party trying to implement it?

In fact, for many years, the United States has been sending out signals continuously , using the condition of "getting Taiwan on the negotiating table for signing a free trade agreement" as a bargaining chip, hoping that Taiwan can relax the import problem of American pigs and American cattle, and at the same time, "clearly beautiful pigs are beautiful" All cattle comply with international safety standards, but their import is restricted.” The pretext is to oppress Taiwan from a moral high point, but why is the issue of US pig imports suddenly brought to the forefront at this time? Why is the government eager to pass a resolution to lower the import standards of US pigs at this time?

First of all, considering historical factors, Taiwan has been unable to export pork for more than 20 years due to foot -and-mouth disease since 1997. Therefore, in the past, it was against the import of US pigs because of " worry that domestic pigs have no alternative channels ." However, in the middle of this year, Taiwan was officially removed from the epidemic area, and pork could be exported again, which not only alleviated Taiwan's pig farmers' concerns about slow sales, but also helped Taiwan's livestock industry export to the United States by opening up US pigs.

Furthermore, considering the factors of the times, the current Sino-US trade war continues and Taiwan-US relations are heating up. Taiwan should seize the opportunity to negotiate more economic agreements , including the reorganization of the global "supply chain" mentioned by President Tsai. In the current international business model, only by opening up these channels can Taiwan increase its international competitiveness. Since President Tsai announced the opening of the country next year, various ministries and committees in the United States and the Democrats in opposition have quickly given this decision a high degree of support and affirmation, and many groups have also called on the US government to respond quickly to our goodwill, so the follow-up development will also Worth our expectation.

If the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) can be successfully signed, it will be of great help to Taiwan. Because Taiwan has a small internal market, many industries must rely on international trade, and the United States is Taiwan's second largest exporter. Therefore, if there is a free trade agreement, it will greatly reduce the proportion of export tariffs and increase the competitiveness of Taiwan's products. , it can simplify the complicated import and export procedures, and many free trade agreements will require that products must be manufactured in the exporting country, so it is also conducive to retaining local enterprises and funds and creating job opportunities within Taiwan.

summary

Chen Shizhong, Minister of Health and Welfare recently, was asked the same question on the radio program, and said that Taiwan had changed to "the status of one Taiwan in the world." Help also became an important issue.

Regarding the issue of "What does the opening of US pigs and US cattle give Taiwan?", the author believes that this is not only a matter of simply importing US pigs and cattle, but also an important decision affecting Taiwan's international status, which is difficult to quantify. However, in terms of negotiation and negotiation, moderate exchanges are required to achieve better results. At the same time, we can also find out how "international status" affects current international politics and power relations between countries through this incident.

Beginning in the 15th century, European powers began to establish powerful colonial empires in the world, using force to seize resources, territories, etc. It was not until after two world wars that the colonial empires gradually disintegrated and the colonialism of the past gradually disappeared. However, most of the countries that originally relied on the leadership of their colonial mother countries still faced problems such as domestic construction and unstable resources after the war, which led to domestic unrest and economic development.

Under the influence of excellent diplomacy and political strategies after the war, the United States, which gradually became a world power, began to control countries through other means, and neo-colonialism also came into being. Although it is rare today for the United States to send troops to attack or occupy other countries, there are often economic sanctions or trade agreements that are not completely reciprocal. These phenomena are constantly being strengthened while the world economy is globalizing.

Whether it is a multinational company with a large amount of capital, it also erodes the survival opportunities of local enterprises in various places, and even uses economic sanctions to affect the political operation of other countries. out of colonial authority and influence? VCR believes that, rather than arguing over the ruling party's past and present, perhaps we should find the value of Taiwan in the world, so that one day we can protect our rights and interests more equally and strive for the resources we want.

Thank you to my friends who are willing to see here, VCR Daily, see you next time.