U.S. Dept. Sec'y of State Robert Zoellick
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U.S. Dept. Sec'y of State Robert Zoellick |
Government officials told U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick on Monday the reimposed ban on U.S. beef will remain until Tokyo is convinced cattle parts at high risk of BSE will not be mixed into shipments.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso also urged the visiting U.S. envoy to find out why risky spinal columns were found in a shipment of U.S. beef last Friday and to ensure measures are taken to prevent a recurrence.
Later the same day, Abe told Zoellick that Japanese consumers won't buy U.S. beef unless all suspicions are cleared.
Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi went so far as to say that if such an incident happens again, the "consequences could be irrevocable."
The government's stance was decided over the weekend.
"It is very regrettable," Aso told Zoellick. "It is crucial that measures are taken to trace the cause and prevent a recurrence."
The foreign minister also said he hoped to see the matter addressed promptly.
Aso said Saturday that "talk of (imports) resumption should come only after a control system is put into place."
He also told Zoellick that Tokyo feels Washington should review its current inspection system, sources said.
Zoellick apologized for the error, admitting the United States was clearly at fault for letting the risky parts through.
He also proposed talks between American and Japanese experts on what preventive steps are needed.
The beef issue eclipsed other topics at the talks, which came after a meeting between Zoellick and agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa on Sunday.(IHT/Asahi: January 23,2006)
source: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200601230275.html 23jan2006
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U.S. beef containing spinal bone material in violation of an agreement Japan signed with the U.S. Japan halted U.S. beef imports because of the meat. (Photo courtesy of Farm Ministry) |
The first shipments of U.S. beef in two years had barely cleared customs last month when American officials were already cooking up their next project — loosening remaining restrictions on imports and winning back wary Japanese palates.
Both those goals became more elusive in the wake of last week's fresh Japanese halt to U.S. beef imports following the discovery of spine bones, material Tokyo has banned as risky for mad cow disease, in a package of American veal.
Now, instead of cajoling reluctant Japanese officials into widening the categories of beef eligible for import, visiting American officials are busy serving up apologies _ and getting met with an unusual stream of public criticism from their Japanese counterparts.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe was typical on Monday in a statement ahead of a meeting with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.
"The U.S. had a duty to firmly observe the conditions for resuming imports, and it is regrettable that this duty was not observed," Abe declared. "The U.S. needs to firmly investigate into the cause of why this duty was not observed."
Abe emphasized his point by announcing that the government ordered inspections of all stocks of U.S. beef imported over the past month, and said imports would not resume until Washington had explained the mishap to Tokyo's satisfaction and came up with preventative steps.
Prospects weren't looking much better on the consumer front. Earlier polls suggested that most Japanese had deep reservations when the government partially lifted a two-year-old ban on American beef imports last month, and the newest flap may only strengthen that reluctance.
Yoshihiko Funakoshi, 64, an executive for a Tokyo trading company, figures like many here that the ban was eased because of heavy political pressure from Washington, Japan's top ally. If anything, he said, Tokyo should be tougher on the U.S. next time.
"The way beef is exported is too sloppy — imports just resumed, and now this," Funakoshi said as he came out of a restaurant during lunchtime on Monday. "Japan could not refuse imports so it asked the U.S. to be thorough. The Japanese government should be stricter."
The newest setback for American beef in Japan quickly extinguished a mood in meat industry circles that was downright festive in December, when Tokyo eased a ban imposed in late 2003 after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. herd.
The embargo had shut down a US$1.4 billion market for U.S. beef producers, and the industry threw a series of public grill parties when the ban was eased. Every few days it seemed another American official was chewing a mouthful of rib-eye for the cameras.
From the American point of view, however, the agreement that reopened the market was not perfect: only meat from cows aged 20 months or younger could be imported, even though U.S. officials say the disease has never been found in cows under 30 months old.
Also excluded from the deal was material considered at risk for mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE: brains, spinal cords and certain bones, such as spinal columns.
Following a recent agreement with South Korea to open its market to American beef from the older cows, U.S. officials were stepping up efforts to get Japan to reconsider its restrictions — until last Friday.
Now the goal is to get Tokyo to allow any imports at all. An American delegation led by U.S. undersecretary of agriculture for farm and foreign agricultural services, J.B. Penn, was to meet with Japanese officials on Tuesday.
"Probably the primary topic is going to be making sure that we comport with the agreement that we have in place," Zoellick told reporters at the U.S. Embassy on Monday. "I don't think it means that we have changed our view ... but sometimes you have to focus on the problem of the day."
The turnaround hasn't been welcome by the Japanese government either.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government pushed for the easing of the ban despite strong public reservations, and reacted over the weekend with unusually pointed criticism of the U.S., presumably as a way of insulating itself from accusations of being too easy on Washington.
"The Japanese people have a very strict sense when it comes to feeling safe and secure about their food," Koizumi said. "I hope the American side will take robust measures."
Still, Koizumi — who has also bucked public opinion to back the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq — came in for some harsh attacks himself from the opposition in parliament.
"He gave precedence to Japan-U.S. relations over the Japanese people's lives and safety," thundered Seiji Maehara, leader the top opposition Democratic Party of Japan. "It's outrageous." (AP)
source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060124p2a00m0na003000c.html 23jan2006
A shipment of veal by a Brooklyn, New York, company to Japan prompted a furor that threatens to trigger the long-term reclosing of a onetime $1.4 billion market for U.S. ranchers.
Late Friday, Japan announced it was halting all U.S. beef imports because of the shipment, which contained banned bones. In December, following two years of negotiations, Japan partially lifted a ban imposed on American beef after two cases of mad-cow disease were detected in the U.S.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick arrived in Japan during the weekend for previously scheduled talks at which the reimposed halt will be a key subject. Mr. Zoellick is scheduled to meet Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe Monday.
Sunday, Mr. Zoellick met Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa. In reference to the veal shipment, the Associated Press quoted the minister as saying the U.S. must "ensure that such an incident never occurs again." An American Embassy spokesman said Mr. Zoellick called the shipment of prohibited materials an unacceptable mistake and expressed "sincere regret," the Associated Press reported.
Friday, when news of the shipment spread, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns scrambled to apologize to Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato, the Chicago cattle-futures market quivered and American trade groups jumped into spin mode because managers of Atlantic Veal & Lamb tried to fill an order from a Japanese customer for cuts of veal containing certain bones.
Atlantic Veal & Lamb managers apparently didn't know that some of the bones are still banned by the Japanese government, which detected the material on its arrival in Japan. "We regret that there was a misinterpretation of the export requirements and an honest mistake involving a very small amount of product that has led to this degree of concern," a statement by the Brooklyn firm said.
It is far from clear how long the latest halt of imports will last. Trying to convince Tokyo it is serious about policing beef exports, the U.S. Agriculture Department on Friday said it is prohibiting the Brooklyn company from doing business with Japan and is punishing the Agriculture Department inspector at the plant who cleared the product for export. In the future, the department will require that two of its inspectors sign off on any beef shipment to Japan, instead of one.
Because the brain-wasting ailment is mostly a disease of older cattle, Japan allows the import of U.S. meat only from cattle slaughtered before they turn 21 months of age.
The meat shipped by the Brooklyn firm came from calves it said are less than 4˝ months old. But some of the meat contained vertebrae bones, banned by Japan because they are near nervous-system tissue that can carry the mad-cow-disease agent.
U.S. cattle-futures prices Friday recovered most of their early losses, based on speculation the fresh halt to Japan sales won't last long.
Sunday, the AP reported that a South Korean official said his country plans to resume U.S. beef imports on a limited basis as scheduled, despite Japan's new suspension of such imports.
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