Pork Referendum Poses Test for Strengthening U.S.-Taiwan Ties
- Voters to back pork import ban, polls show, harming trade ties
- Taiwanese public to have say on four issues in vote Saturday
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The Biden administration’s robust relationship with Taiwan, a cornerstone of Washington’s Indo-Pacific policy, will be tested by a referendum that looks set to inflame a decades’ old trade spat with the U.S.
Taiwanese citizens will vote Saturday on four questions around energy policy, environmental protection, regulations governing future referendums and trade. The topic that poses the biggest worry to officials in Taipei and Washington is whether the government should reimpose a ban on imports of pork containing trace amounts of the feed additive ractopamine.