President Ma Ying-jeou said Monday that Taiwan did not exchange the safety of Taiwan's people for any targeted benefit in opening the country's doors wider to imports of U.S. beef and beef products. In an interview with weekly magazine The Journalist, the president said food safety was the top consideration in Taiwan's handling of the U.S. beef case, and he insisted that the administration would never make a deal with the U.S. at the expense of the health of Taiwan's people. Ma said the government agreed to import U.S. bone-in beef, ground beef and some safe bovine offal -- which triggered an outcry from critics who raised fears that the cuts would bring mad cow disease to Taiwan -- because Taiwan is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). 'Taiwan is not in a position to say no when WTO and OIE member countries make trade enquiries,' he said. He said Taiwan used the South Korean formula as a bottom line and adopted even harsher standards than South Korea's in terms of importing U.S. beef and beef products. Taiwan did not make any compromises in negotiating the beef deal, the president said, but he indicated the opening would surely contribute to improving bilateral Taiwan-U.S. relations. Taiwan has substantially improved its relations with China during his time in office, and some have begun to worry that Taiwan is tilting toward China while distancing itself from the U.S., Ma said. 'But by opening up to U.S. beef imports, we have removed a barrier between Taipei and Washington,' he argued. Taipei and Washington signed a protocol in late October that opened Taiwan's market to most cuts of U.S. beef, ending a ban on bone-in beef that had been imposed because of cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in the United States. The U.S. had pressed Taiwan to open its market for bone-in beef and suspended talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in retaliation for Taiwan's inaction on the issue. But while Taiwan has relaxed restrictions on U.S. beef imports, the president said the government had not responsibility to promote U.S. beef in Taiwan. Meanwhile, he said the administration has never said that the U.S. beef imports would come with 'zero risks.' 'Nothing in the world comes with 'no risks,'' he argued. So long as the risks are within acceptable levels in the eyes of professional experts, the risks are acceptable for us, he said. On the impact of the beef deal with the U.S., Ma said it would only have a minimal impact on domestic beef producers, who supply a mere 7 percent of Taiwan's beef demand. The opening is more likely to affect importers of beef and beef products from Australia and New Zealand, he suggested. 