Taiwan is moving towards a possible removal of a ban on agricultural imports from five Japanese prefectures introduced in 2011 due to the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
A diplomatic source said that now it is up to President Tsai Ing-wen to make his decision. The ban will be lifted at the earliest in the spring.
A referendum on the issue was held last year, in which Taiwanese people voted down a plan to ban imports of U.S. pork containing a leanness-enhancing additive.
While the largest opposition Kuomintang asked for voter approval of the plan, saying that food safety should be put above diplomacy, Tsai said it should be rejected by presenting scientific safety standards.
Since the referendum, local media outlets have been running articles on the issue, including ones that say that the referendum result is expected to give impetus to the lifting of the ban.
The ban on food imports from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba was introduced in response to the triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s disaster-hit nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
In 2018, the Kuomintang launched a campaign against the ban. In a referendum that year, Taiwan decided to keep the measure intact.
In view of the rejection of the ban on U.S. pork, Kuo-wen, a lawmaker of the Democratic Progressive Party, said that the mood of society has changed and there is no reason to delay the removal of the ban on imports from the Japanese prefectures.
The Taiwanese people's attention has already moved to the schedule of the lifting. The ban may be lifted between January and March, as Taiwan will gear up for nationwide local elections from spring, according to observers.
Tsai s administration hasn't made a decision on when the ban will be lifted.
Tsai is trying to realize Taiwan s entry into the CPTPP free trade deal ahead of China, according to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. She puts priority on the resolution of food-related problems with Japan, which plays a leading role in the CPTPP framework.
A diplomatic source said that Tsai is taking a cautious stance because there is a by-election for the Legislative Yuan this month and any mishandling of the issue would provide ammunition to the opposition side.
Some people are worried about the safety of food from the Japanese prefectures. There are some people who say that the lifting of the imports from the five prefectures would not guarantee Taiwan's participation in the CPTPP.
A Japanese diplomatic source said the issue has turned into a domestic problem for Taiwan.
If Japan pushes Taiwan, the lifting will be delayed further, the source said, pointing to the need to calmly wait and see how things will develop.