President Tsai Ing-wen has made a final push to get people to vote against reinstating a ban on pork imports containing the leanness-enhancing additive ractopamine. The question of Taiwan’s stance on ractopamine-treated pork is one of four that voters will be asked to decide in a referendum scheduled for Saturday.
Tsai Ing-wen’s administration has eased restrictions on pork imports containing ractopamine, particularly from the US. However, the opposition KMT successfully petitioned Taiwan’s election commission to include reinstating the ban in Saturday’s vote.
In a social media post, Tsai urged people to vote against restrictions on pork imports that contain ractopamine. She says that if the referendum passes, Taiwan’s economy will suffer.
Tsai says that if Taiwan decides to reinstate the ban on imports of ractopamine-treated pork so quickly after it eased restrictions, Taiwan could be seen as an unreliable trade partner. She says that that could in turn jeopardize Taiwan’s bid to join the CPTPP trade bloc.