At the reception in the Executive Yuan today for recipients of the Golden Merchants Award for local and foreign firms as well as winners of other related honors, Premier Jiang Yi-huah reiterated the government's commitment to economic liberalization and the importance of food safety.
The government will adhere to the principles of liberalization and openness in accelerating the signing of agreements with other nations or regional organizations, he stated, emphasizing that "Taiwan should not be absent from the global open business environment."
Jiang noted that President Ma in his New Year's Day address proclaimed that the nation will proactively join regional economic integration, and from February to September the Executive Yuan took a comprehensive inventory of all related aspects and possible challenges that the country might face in accomplishing this mission. Although the task has been arduous, the premier believes the combined efforts of the nation's officials and business representatives attending to the negotiations will surely reap the greatest possible advantages and economic benefits for the nation.
The premier hopes that the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services will be approved by the Legislature soon. He further pointed out that the government has never slackened its efforts in the ongoing negotiations for the cross-strait agreement on trade in goods or for joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Moreover, the government has taken scrupulous inventory of the opportunities as well as competition faced by industries that might be impacted by the nation's joining the TPP and RCEP.
Turning to the food safety issue, the premier said numerous businesses have suffered heavy damages because of direct imports or indirect purchases of problematic ingredients.
For example, although only three producers of Taichung sun cakes were found to have used unsafe oil, all manufacturers fell under suspicion when the news broke, reducing sales significantly across the board. Other cake and food additive producers have suffered similar fates, the premier added.
"Every business must have a social conscience," Jiang said. Harsh legal sanctions are just one consequence for businesses that violate the law by adding hazardous substances to their products or create such products themselves, he warned. Once such companies harm innocent citizens and fall into disrepute, they will find it very difficult to regain customers' trust, and the losses they will then incur will outweigh the gains from cutting production costs in such a fashion, the premier admonished.
Going forward, the administration is confident it will revive the reputation of the nation's food industry, Jiang affirmed. He pledged that in the future, laws and regulations will be more flexible and liberalized, and control more reasonable, in order to create a better and friendlier business environment.