FOOD SAFETY ASSUMES IMPORTANT ROLE IN CROSS-STRAIT

UNCLAS TAIPEI 001548 SENSITIVE SIPDIS HHS FOR OGHA STEIGER, BHAT AND ABDOO; FDA/CFSAN BREWER, SUBERA-WIGGIN, WOO AND FDA/OIP J. HO USDA FOR FAS/OSTA MACKE, LOWER; FAS/OCRA RADLER, BEILLARD, USTR FOR WINELAND AND STRATFORD USDOC FOR 3132/USFCS/OIO/EAP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV TSPL TBIO ECON SOCI KSCA ETRD TW CH SUBJECT: FOOD SAFETY ASSUMES IMPORTANT ROLE IN CROSS-STRAIT TALKS REF: A. BEIJING 4085 ¶B. TAIPEI 1490 ¶C. TAIPEI 1484 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. In advance of his November 3-7 visit to Taipei, the PRC's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin made an October 27 written apology (ref a) and an October 30 verbal apology for the distress caused by exports of Chinese-manufactured tainted milk products to Taiwan (ref b). The apologies are likely to help ease public tensions during Chen's talks with his Taiwan counterpart, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Ping-kun in Taipei this week. The SEF-ARATS talks are expected to conclude agreements on food safety, in addition to cross-Strait air/sea links and direct postal service (ref c). In the wake of the melamine scare, the food safety agreement will be a major focus of public attention in Taiwan as it is slated to touch on compensation for melamine victims and Taiwan's plans to set up a food inspection office in the PRC. END SUMMARY CALMING PUBLIC TENSIONS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In late September, after the PRC notified Taiwan that a 25-ton shipment of milk powder already on the Taiwan market contained traces of the industrial chemical melamine, the Department of Health (DOH) banned all dairy-content food imports from the PRC and now requires that all dairy products on the market undergo stringent "non-detectable" (0.05) ppm melamine tests. In addition, it announced that selected categories of dairy-based products from all countries would be subject to the non-detectable melamine test report requirements. Chen Yunlin made a written apology to Taiwan on the melamine issue October 27, and followed it with a verbal apology on the 30th. His apologies were aimed at defusing some of the ill-feeling generated from the melamine scandal. The melamine scare resulted in the resignation of then-Minister of Health Lin Fang-yue, and the DOH changing its melamine standard from 0.05 ppm to 2.5 ppm and back to 0.05 ppm, causing widespread discontent among local businesses, who are seeking compensation for losses, and foreign suppliers, who are balking at the high cost of meeting a 0.05 ppm tolerance on their products. President Ma Ying-jeou seems to have alluded to Chen's apologies when he recently told the media that Chen would not ignore the melamine issue during his visit to Taipei. FOOD SAFETY AGREEMENTS -------------- ¶3. (SBU) According to the Department of Health, Taiwan aims to attain the following objectives through the food safety agreement: stopping the illegal adulteration of food, establishing a food inspection office in the PRC, and setting up a compensation policy for Taiwan consumers who ingested the tainted milk products. Department of Health contacts told us that the intended food inspection office will follow the guidelines of the U.S.-China Agreement on Food Safety signed in December 2007, and will allow Taiwan representatives to inspect food products before their export to Taiwan. The prospective agreement will also adopt the international Codex Alimentarius food safety inspection mechanism, recognized by 170 members worldwide. Following the melamine incident, both sides have set up contact points to exchange information on tainted food, and have been exchanging information since October 6. SYOUNG