BACK BURNER: A Japan relations official confirmed that a platform to discuss trade and investment has been put on hold due to Taiwan’s ban on certain Japanese food imports
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 01, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
Japan at a bilateral meeting reiterated its hope that Taiwan could lift an import ban
Taiwan-Japan Relations Association President Chiou I-jen, left, yesterday shakes hands with Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi at an agreement and memorandum signing ceremony closing the 43rd annual Taiwan-Japan trade and economic meeting at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
on food products from five Japanese prefectures, but understands that Taiwanese voiced their collective opposition to the idea in a referendum last week, the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association said yesterday.
Japan said it hoped that Taiwan could lift the ban based on scientific evidence, association deputy secretary-general Lin Ching-hung (林慶鴻) told a news conference at the conclusion of the two-day annual Taiwan-Japan trade and economic meeting in Taipei.
“In response, we told our Japanese counterparts that according to the referendum results, Taiwanese only want Japanese food products that are safe to consume and that the government will handle the matter in accordance with the Referendum Act (公民投票法) and the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法),” Lin said.
An official who attended the meeting said that Japanese representatives also mentioned China’s decision on Wednesday to partially relax its import restrictions on Japanese food products imposed after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, by allowing the import of rice produced in Niigata Prefecture, effective immediately. [FULL STORY]
