Taipei Times
Date: Oct 28, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday downplayed reports that a ban on imports of food from areas affected by the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan would be discussed at the Taiwan-Japan Maritime Affairs Cooperation Dialogue Mechanism in Tokyo on Monday.

At a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) asked Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) whether the government has decided to reopen the door to Japanese food products that have been prohibited.

“There is a high level of public consensus on the issue, as it could jeopardize food safety,” Chiang said at the question-and-answer session. “If the issue is discussed at the bilateral meeting, or if it is not brought up, but the government has already made a secret promise to Tokyo to lift the ban, we will denounce such an action.”

Lee said the government agencies responsible for the issue are the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Council of Agriculture and neither is to send representative to the maritime meeting.     [FULL  STORY]