The government will seek to reopen talks with Washington on issues related to beef imports following the passage of a law amendment that will effectively bar certain beef products from the United States, Premier Wu Den-yih said Wednesday. Wu explained that renegotiations are necessary now that a small part of the Taiwan-U.S. beef trade protocol signed in October has become inapplicable. According to Wu, the talks can be held immediately if Taiwan's request is accepted by the U.S. government. Otherwise, they will have to wait until the protocol has been in force for 180 days, when consultations on the issue will become compulsory. He said the government will do its utmost to try to mend relations with the United States, which has maintained a firm and long-standing friendship and shares many common interests with Taiwan. The premier expressed confidence that Washington will not allow the controversy over the ban on ground beef and beef offal, which account for only 2 percent of all U.S. beef imports in terms of value, to affect other more important areas of bilateral ties. 'As a democratic country, the United States can certainly understand the legislative and executive branches' need to prioritize the safety and health of the people,' Wu said. The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation Tuesday that targets beef products from countries with documented cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) , or 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 that set no restrictions on these items. The U.S. State Department expressed disappointment Tuesday over Taiwan's violation of the protocol but ruled out the possibility that the incident could affect other areas of bilateral relations such as arms sales to Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday that Taipei will continue to communicate on the matter with Washington. In light of the broad range of Taiwan-U.S. relations, the incident is unlikely to affect the overall substantive ties between the two countries, according to the MOFA. 