Council of Agriculture (COA) Deputy Minister James Sha said food security is Taiwan’s top priority in its negotiations of the cross-strait trade in goods agreement with China. He made the remarks on Tuesday, after the 12th round of talks last Saturday.
Sha said the Chinese side questioned Taiwan’s reasons for not opening the market for certain agricultural products from China. He said the government will not give in its priority. Farmers’ rights and food safety are the nation’s top priorities.
Sha said the government is concerned about China’s economic scale and huge agricultural output, while the two sides consume similar food crops.
So far, Taiwan still has 615 agricultural products from China on import control. Beijing has requested “normal treatment”, referring to Taiwan’s treatment of other WTO members.