The Cabinet says there is no timetable for lifting a ban on food imports from five Japanese prefectures. The ban was imposed on imports from areas affected by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in 2011.
Cabinet spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung was responding on Thursday to media reports which said the ban could be lifted by the beginning of next year at the earliest. Hsu said the Cabinet would gauge the views of people in both Taiwan and Japan toward food from those areas before deciding if and when to lift the ban. Hsu said, "When we lift the ban, we will explain related measures, our process of border inspection, and the measures implemented by other countries, to the people of Taiwan. Ensuring the health of our public is our number one priority. We have not set a timetable for lifting the ban. If we have any more information about this we will let everyone know."
Hsu responded to a question about the government’s position, considering that the European Union and the United States have lifted similar bans, while China and South Korea have not. The spokesperson said China and South Korea are both engaged in territorial disputes with Japan, so the bans could be used as a bargaining chip. He said that Taiwan would take a more objective attitude in dealing with the matter.
Taiwan also has territorial disputes with Japan.