Taiwan opposition pushes pork referendum, could threaten US trade deal
Taiwan's main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) began a push on Sunday for a referendum to block the easing of restrictions on U.S. pork imports, which if passed could threaten a long-mooted free trade deal with Taipei's key ally Washington. President Tsai Ing-wen announced last month that the government would from Jan. 1 allow in U.S. pork containing ractopamine, an additive that enhances leanness, and U.S. beef more than 30 months old.
Taiwan has long sought a free trade agreement with the United States, its most important supporter on the international stage, but Washington has complained about barriers to access for U.S. pork and beef. KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang, elected in March to help turn around party fortunes following a trouncing in January's presidential and parliament elections, said the party would begin collecting signatures for a referendum to be held next August.
"Starting next weekend on Sept. 12, we will spring up everywhere, getting signatures from counties and cities, showing the will of the people through concrete action," he told the party's annual conference in Taipei. The KMT has pitched their opposition to the pork imports as a matter of food safety, Taiwan having been rocked by several safety scandals in recent years, pointing out that ractopamine is banned in major markets like the European Union.
Tsai's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has previously also strongly objected to ractopamine. The government has defended the easing of pork imports, saying they are bringing Taiwan into line with international norms and that the decision will boost Taiwan-US ties.
Taiwan and the United States are expected this month to start high-level economic talks in what could be a precursor to a broad free trade deal. The KMT will need to collect around 200,000 signatures to get the referendum approved and put to a vote. Chiang has been trying to turn around the fortunes of the party, which traditionally favours close ties with China. Beijing claims Taiwan as sovereign Chinese territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen sees no need for a four-day week at its plants to secure jobs despite a growing shift to electric cars that are easier to build and require fewer workers, the company's head of labour relations was quoted saying on Sunday.
Germany's largest trade union IG Metall on Aug. 15 proposed negotiating for a transition to a four-day week across industry to help secure jobs, against the backdrop of economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis and structural shifts in the auto sector. But VW labour chief Bernd Osterloh told Welt am Sonntag newspaper that VW's existing cost-cutting plan, that includes reducing the workforce by up to 7,000 through the early retirement of administrative staff at its Wolfsburg headquarters, was enough to help it overcome the coronavirus crisis and other issues.
"At the moment we are not talking about less work," Osterloh said. "With the Golf we had the (production) levels of last year in June and July and introduced extra shifts," he added, referring to one of the company's most popular models. "The fourday week is not an issue for us." Demands by IG Metall, which represents 2.3m employees in the metal working and electrical sectors, are potentially significant in Germany because they often set benchmarks for wage negotiations in those industries and beyond.