Taiwan's Ban On Japan Food Imports Affects Its CPTPP Application

Taiwan's decade-long ban on Japanese food imports from areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster will be the key agenda for bilateral negotiations now that Taiwan has formally applied to join a Tokyo-led trade bloc, the nation's top trade negotiator told the Central News Agency (CNA).

Photo Insert: Peaches grown in Fukushima Prefecture

Minister without Portfolio John Deng, who heads the Cabinet's Office of Trade Negotiations, said Taiwan needs to deal with its existing ban on imports of agricultural and food products from the areas in Japan affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster of March 11, 2011, Liang Pei-chi, Tseng Chih-yi, Lai Yu-chen, and Joseph Yeh reported for CNA.

Though the Japanese government has publicly said it will not consider the resolution of the issue as a priority for Tokyo's support of Taipei's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Deng said the dispute has to be dealt with sooner or later.

"Taiwan will bring the issue to the negotiation table once both sides begin official talks in joining the CPTPP," Deng said. Both the Japanese public and private sectors have repeatedly and openly expressed their concerns over the ban for years, even though Tokyo has annually exported tens of thousands of other products to Taiwan, Deng said.

Some of the issues likely to be discussed in future bilateral talks on lifting the ban include specifying what kind of food and agricultural products will be allowed to enter the Taiwan market, what government unit will be responsible for inspecting the imported products from Japan, and what kind of certificate documents need to be prepared beforehand, according to the minister.

"Whether to lift the ban or not will be decided based solely on scientific evidence," he said, adding that the government will only allow these imports as long as they are scientifically proven to be safe to eat and can be easily differentiated from other products, and a proper system to manage them is in place.

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