Taiwan on Wednesday called on the United States to cherish its trade relations with Taipei in the wake of a beef row and continue to promote bilateral trade cooperation. Executive Yuan spokesman Su Jun-pin stated Taiwan's hopes one day after the U.S. government expressed disappointment over a law amendment by the Legislative Yuan which bars the import of specific U.S. beef products. The amendment contravenes a bilateral trade protocol signed between Taiwan's government administration and the United States in October to allow the U.S. bone-in beef, ground beef and offal. Su said that the Executive Yuan will explain to the U.S. the law amendment and hear its views. Su said the Executive Yuan hopes that Washington can understand that the law amendment is in response to public concerns over the bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, and that the amendment was 'normal under a democratic system.' Su said that U.S. ground beef or offal which will be banned from imports as a result of the law amendment account for only two percent of U.S. beef imports, and its impact on bilateral trade between Taiwan and the United States should be limited. The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation Tuesday that targets beef products from countries with documented cases of mad cow disease over the past decade. It will effectively bar U.S. ground beef, beef offal and other beef parts such as skulls, eyes and intestines from access to Taiwan's market, contravening the bilateral protocol signed in October. 