VZCZCXYZ0011
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHIN #0923/01 1160533
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260533Z APR 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC PRIORITY 2632
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5015

UNCLAS AIT TAIPEI 000923 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FAS FOR OCRA/HIGGISTON; OFSO/THURSLAND 
STATE FOR EAP/TC 
STATE PASS USTR FOR ERIC ALTBACH 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD EFIS TW
SUBJECT: DIRECTOR'S MEETING WITH COA CHAIRMAN SU: CCA AGENDA AND 
FISHERIES MOU 
 
REF: TAIPEI 00908 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. On April 24, Director Young met with Council of 
Agriculture (COA) Chairman Su Jia-chyuan to review a number of 
issues, including the status and plans for the Consultative 
Committee on Agriculture (CCA). Noting recent Executive Yuan (EY) 
approval of the founding documents and imminent signing of those 
documents in Washington, the Director and Chairman Su agreed the 
next step is to develop a constructive agenda and suggested a 
deadline of August to complete that task. Director Young also noted 
recent progress and cooperation on several key issues, including 
apples and rice. Chairman Su described ongoing problems with high 
corn prices and the threat this poses to U.S. corn exporters. In 
discussing the proposed renewal of the fisheries MOU, COA said it 
will likely take some time to comply with a number of the 
requirements raised by the U.S. side. End summary. 
 
CCA: Time to Initiate Agenda Discussion 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Thanking COA for its coordination of the EY clearance 
process, the Director noted the documents to establish the CCA are 
now ready for signing in Washington, DC. He also noted that he was 
recently in Washington and during his meeting with senior USDA 
officials, confirmed that early fall remains the proposed date for 
the inaugural meeting of the CCA in Taipei. The Director suggested 
that both sides begin discussions on an agenda for the meeting and 
raised the following as proposed topics: 
 
¶A. Outlook for the WTO Doha Round: The Director pointed out that 
President Bush has expressed U.S. determination to bring the round 
to a successful conclusion. The Director also said that in his 
meeting with Vice Premier Tsai earlier that morning, he suggested 
that Taiwan show its support for the U.S. position and noted U.S. 
concern over Taiwan's alliance with the G-10. (See reftel) 
¶B. Energy Policy, Biofuels, and the Impact on Grain Prices 
¶C. Review Results of Recent Bilateral Technical Discussions on 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues 
¶D. Role of Agricultural Biotechnology 
¶E. The Cooperative Program on Agricultural Sciences 
 
¶3. (SBU) Director Young also pointed out that this summer's TIFA 
meeting will include a number of agriculture issues and will help 
pave the way for this fall's CCA. In response, Chairman Su suggested 
that AIT and COA each propose suggested agenda items and review 
these proposals by the end of July with a goal of finalizing the 
agenda in August. Note: In preliminary meetings held in late 
February, AIT Ag Chief proposed similar topics for the CCA agenda 
and COA generally agrees. On item B, COA will likely want to explore 
collaborative research and commercial opportunities with USDA and 
others. In that earlier meeting, there was also agreement that each 
topic should include an outcome that will guide future cooperation 
and action. USDA has completed an internal review of topics, so both 
sides are already fairly far along in the agenda-setting process. 
End Note. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Picking up on the WTO Doha theme, Chairman Su said that 
some blame U.S. domestic support programs in agriculture as the 
primary reason the Doha round has not concluded. He feels, however, 
that pointing fingers and casting blame is not the answer. Rather, 
what is needed is persuasion. Chairman Su noted that the EY is 
determined to help conclude the round, recognizing that even though 
Taiwan's agriculture will have to endure some "bitterness", the 
overall benefits for Taiwan are definitely positive.  He claims that 
Taiwan is relatively open-minded on its Doha position, but its G-10 
partners are more vocal opponents of liberalization. Nonetheless, 
given the constant threat of pressure from China and as a relatively 
small member, Taiwan feels compelled to remain in a grouping like 
the 
G-10 for the support and assistance it can provide. 
 
Cooperative Efforts on Apples, Rice, and Grain 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Director Young acknowledged several specific issues and 
programs where recent developments illustrate the value of continued 
cooperation. One such issue is COA's initiative to review with USDA 
the current Apple Work Plan.  USDA will send a team of experts to 
Taiwan in late June and we look forward to a constructive 
discussion. 
 
¶6. (SBU) A second issue is Taiwan's March notification of its new 
rice tariff-rate quota to the WTO. The Director reaffirmed the U.S. 
agreement to help Taiwan address any objections that might be raised 
 
by other WTO members and asked if there have been any questions 
raised in Geneva.  Director General Chen Wen-deh of the 
International Cooperation Department said that Vietnam requested 
details on Taiwan's rice import polices. COA responded with a 
general description of import policies, but did not provide details 
of the new quota system as notified to the WTO.  He said that COA 
has not yet received any comment from Egypt, but noted the comment 
period does not close until June 15. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Director also expressed his understanding of the 
difficulties current high grain prices place on COA and Taiwan's 
livestock producers. He said that AIT and U.S. industry groups will 
continue to provide updated market information to COA and Taiwan 
industry groups and have technical programs planned that offer price 
risk management training. Chairman Su said that corn prices have 
jumped from about NT$5/kg to more than NT$7/kg. This is close to 
Taiwan's own corn production cost of NT$8/kg. He also noted the 
pressure to open Taiwan's market to Chinese corn and the likelihood 
that alternative feed sources will be developed. He suggested that 
should Taiwan producers switch to other suppliers or alternative 
inputs, it will be very difficult for the United States to recapture 
its current near total domination of a 4.5 million ton corn market. 
 
Fisheries MOU: More time needed? 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Director raised U.S. concerns that Taiwan still needs 
to address specific conservation, management, and enforcement issues 
as identified in the joint work plan before the AIT/TECRO Fisheries 
MOU can be renewed. The existing MOU expires on July 30. The 
Director noted that Taiwan needs to work with a number of regional 
fisheries commissions, provide timely data on fish catch and 
by-catch, help conserve sharks as a targeted species and conserve 
turtles and sea birds as by-catch, adopt a plan of action concerning 
Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IIU) fishing, and strengthen 
enforcement to combat IIU. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Director General Hsieh Dah-wen of the Fisheries Agency 
noted that Taiwan's scale of operations is so large it may take time 
to comply with this list of requirements.  For example, FAO has 
international plans-of-action for by-catch and Taiwan has its own 
national plans for sharks and sea birds. DG Hsieh noted that the 
United States proposed a so-called shopping list related to regional 
fishery organization regulations at the March joint work plan 
meeting. Taiwan plans to make a counter-proposal and, while it 
intends to stick to the spirit of the current bilateral MOU with the 
United States, it must still manage these regional regulation issues 
multilaterally. DG Hsieh also made a plea for U.S. support for 
Taiwan's membership status in some of the regional organizations. 
Current observer status must be renewed every year. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment:  The exchange on WTO/Doha and apparent 
willingness by COA to consider making tough political choices on 
agriculture is a shift from its initial outright rejection of the 
U.S. Doha proposal on agriculture. It suggests there is an 
opportunity for a senior-level dialogue at both the upcoming TIFA 
and fall CCA on the options available to Taiwan to moderate its Doha 
position. End Comment. 
 
YOUNG