Thursday, February 2, 2023
  • Login
198 Japan News
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • JAPAN US TRADE NEWS
    • JAPAN EU NEWS
    • JAPAN UK NEWS
    • JAPAN INDIA NEWS
    • JAPAN RUSSIA NEWS
    • JAPAN GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • JAPAN AFRICA NEWS
    • JAPAN EGYPT NEWS
    • JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS
    • JAPAN MEXICO NEWS
    • JAPAN BRAZIL NEWS
    • JAPAN THAILAND NEWS
    • JAPAN INDONESIA NEWS
  • CRYPTO
  • POLITICAL
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • JAPAN UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • JAPAN EDUCATION NEWS
    • JAPAN VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • JAPAN JOINT VENTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN BUSINESS HELP
    • JAPAN PARTNESHIPS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
198 Japan News
  • HOME
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • JAPAN US TRADE NEWS
    • JAPAN EU NEWS
    • JAPAN UK NEWS
    • JAPAN INDIA NEWS
    • JAPAN RUSSIA NEWS
    • JAPAN GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • JAPAN AFRICA NEWS
    • JAPAN EGYPT NEWS
    • JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS
    • JAPAN MEXICO NEWS
    • JAPAN BRAZIL NEWS
    • JAPAN THAILAND NEWS
    • JAPAN INDONESIA NEWS
  • CRYPTO
  • POLITICAL
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • JAPAN UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • JAPAN EDUCATION NEWS
    • JAPAN VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • JAPAN JOINT VENTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN BUSINESS HELP
    • JAPAN PARTNESHIPS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
198 Japan News
No Result
View All Result
Home JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS

Pork referendum poses test for strengthening U.S. and Taiwan ties

by 198 Japan News
December 17, 2021
in JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

[ad_1]

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden’s robust relationship with Taiwan, a cornerstone of Washington’s Indo-Pacific policy, will be tested by a referendum that looks set to inflame a decades’ old trade spat with the U.S.

Taiwanese citizens will vote Saturday on four questions around energy policy, environmental protection, regulations governing future referendums and trade. The topic that poses the biggest worry to officials in Taipei and Washington is whether the government should reimpose a ban on imports of pork containing trace amounts of the feed additive ractopamine.

A “yes” result would present President Tsai Ing-wen with a dilemma: conform to the people’s will and potentially anger Taiwan’s most important political and military backer or keep the doors open to U.S. pork and risk a domestic political backlash less than a year before key regional elections.

Maintaining Washington’s support is particularly important as Beijing ramps up a pressure campaign on the democratically ruled island that the Communist Party considers a breakaway territory despite never having ruled it.

The referendum debate is split along political lines. Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party opposes all four proposals, while the main opposition Kuomintang is in favor of them.

Keep ractopamine pork out?

Voters will be asked if the government should reimpose a complete ban on imports of pork and pig offal containing ractopamine. While that feed additive is banned in many places including China and the European Union, many U.S. pork producers still use it to promote the growth of lean meat.

For decades, the U.S. had been pushing Taipei to open its market to pork containing ractopamine, saying Taiwan’s ban was the biggest impediment to a bilateral free trade agreement.

In an effort to nudge the U.S. toward starting formal trade talks, Tsai overturned the ban last year, triggering fierce debate in Taiwan about concerns the drug can harm people who consume meat raised with it. Since the ban was lifted, however, sales of U.S. pork to Taiwan have plunged to their lowest since 1998. The negative publicity in Taiwan has made it an unpalatable option for consumers and therefore importers.

The Tsai administration is urging the public to reject a new ban, saying the move is in Taiwan’s best interests as it’ll boost its trade relations with the U.S.

“Everyone’s watching to see if Taiwan is standing with the rest of the world,” Tsai wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “If we don’t get through this, Taiwan’s economy will return to being locked together with China’s. We can’t go back.”

The latest opinion polls indicate the government is heading for defeat, with 55% of the public saying they favor reinstating the ban, according to a survey by the Taipei-based TVBS poll center last week. Only 33% said they were against it.

A protest march in Taipei on Sunday. Taiwanese voters will be asked if the government should reimpose a complete ban on imports of pork and pig offal containing ractopamine. | REUTERS
A protest march in Taipei on Sunday. Taiwanese voters will be asked if the government should reimpose a complete ban on imports of pork and pig offal containing ractopamine. | REUTERS

Bring back nuclear power?

Voters will decide whether Taiwan should activate the Lungmen Nuclear Plant that was almost completed but then mothballed in 2014 due to rising anti-nuclear sentiment in the wake of the Fukushima disaster three years earlier.

Nuclear power has long been a dividing line between Taiwan’s main political parties. Tsai’s DPP, staunchly anti-nuclear since its inception in the 1980s, has pledged to phase out atomic energy by 2025. The opposition KMT and industry groups, however, argue that Taiwan needs it to meet manufacturers’ surging power requirements amid a boom in global demand for Taiwanese products.

Reef versus LNG?

The referendum will also seek voters’ opinion on whether the state-controlled energy company CPC Corp. should move a planned $2 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal from its proposed location beside a 7,000-year-old algal reef on Taiwan’s northern coast.

Environmental activists have criticized the damage the project will cause the reef and its nearby ecosystem. But the government insists increasing LNG imports is crucial to reducing the economy’s reliance on coal while phasing out nuclear energy. Officials have offered to move the terminal almost 500 meters offshore, a compromise that would likely delay completion of the project by 2.5 years.

When Is the right time?

The fourth issue on the ballot is an administrative one: should referendums be held in conjunction with national elections if a referendum proposal is accepted by the Central Election Commission less than six months ahead of an election.

What happens next?

Nearly 20 million people are eligible to participate on Saturday. Opinion polls show voters are close to evenly split on the two energy questions but that the public is likely to vote “yes” on the pork ban and changes to when referendums can be held.

The Referendum Act dictates the government must take the “necessary disposition to realize the content” of the referendum, so Tsai could be forced to deliver a rebuff to the U.S. just as Beijing is stepping up military pressure on the island.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

You might also like

Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s Odesa port, key to grain deal

Ukraine’s grain challenge involves clearing mines, finding ships and trusting Putin

Is the buzz around ‘hot’ sectors and billion-dollar valuations missing the big picture of ed-tech?

PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

  • Supporters of Taiwan's main opposition party, Kuomintang, join a labor protest in Taipei on Sunday focusing on its opposition to imports of U.S. pork containing ractopamine.  | REUTERS
  • A protest march in Taipei on Sunday. Taiwanese voters will be asked if the government should reimpose a complete ban on imports of pork and pig offal containing ractopamine.  | REUTERS

[ad_2]

Source link

Tags: porkposesreferendumstrengtheningTaiwantestties
Share30Tweet19

Recommended For You

Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s Odesa port, key to grain deal

by 198 Japan News
July 23, 2022
0

Kyiv – Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s key Black Sea port of Odesa on Saturday, officials said, in an attack Kyiv described as a “spit in the face” of...

Read more

Ukraine’s grain challenge involves clearing mines, finding ships and trusting Putin

by 198 Japan News
July 22, 2022
0

Ukraine finally secured a deal aimed at restarting crucial Black Sea grain exports that have been crippled by Russia’s invasion. But getting them going won’t be easy. Government...

Read more

Is the buzz around ‘hot’ sectors and billion-dollar valuations missing the big picture of ed-tech?

by 198 Japan News
July 21, 2022
0

A teacher teaches face to face, an online class after schools reopened at Vidya Bal Bhawan Senior Secondary School, Mayur Vihar on February 7, 2022 in New Delhi,...

Read more

Infy, Tech Mahindra et al. have dipped their toes in metaverse waters. Can they cash in on the mania?

by 198 Japan News
July 19, 2022
0

The history of India’s USD230 billion IT services businesses has mostly been that of playing catch up with global peers, including Accenture, Capgemini, IBM.Often India’s IT sector watchers...

Read more

Unicorn on a bike: how Rapido fought Ola and Uber to win big in small rides

by 198 Japan News
July 18, 2022
0

Representative ImageSynopsisThe latest Swiggy-led funding round put Rapido’s valuation around USD830 million. This is impressive for a startup that survived on just USD2 million in the first three...

Read more
Next Post

The U.S. can’t keep dodging the trade issue in Asia

“OASIS Café Like”, a Zoom event for SU students! – No registration required

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

July 24, 2022

California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

July 24, 2022

China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

July 24, 2022

Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

July 24, 2022

With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

July 23, 2022

Brands of Baseball Gloves

July 23, 2022
198 Japan News

198 Japan News will provide the latest news update as the government facing a growing challenging in preventing Japan from breaking apart along ethnic and religious lines.

198massmedia Group. USA. 3821 Dominion Drive, Dumfries, USA. 22026.

Toll Free 1 888 642 8433.
Contact: info@198japannews.com

LATEST UPDATES

FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

Brands of Baseball Gloves

UPDATE 1-France tells Iran it’s disappointed at lack of progress over nuclear talks

Neymar declares wish to stay at Paris Saint Germain

RECOMMENDED

No Content Available

Copyright © 2021 198 Japan News.

No Result
View All Result
  • Browse the latest updates from Japan
  • Landing Page
  • Buy JNews
  • Support Forum
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 198 Japan News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In