The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden’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.
A "yes” result would present President Tsai Ing-wen with a dilemma: conform to the people’s will and potentially anger Taiwan’s most important political and military backer or keep the doors open to U.S. pork and risk a domestic political backlash less than a year before key regional elections.
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