The Chinese government on Feb. 26 announced an import ban on Taiwanese pineapples, saying that scale insects were found in several imported batches.
As a result, pineapples that were originally scheduled to be exported to China had no place to go, and pineapple farmers found themselves exposed to huge losses.
The Council of Agriculture (COA) has said that even if Taiwanese pineapples were contaminated with scale insects, the Japanese government would only require that they be fumigated before being released.
This highlights the Chinese government’s rogue and unreasonable behavior.
Judging from news reports over the past few days, Taiwanese are as angry as they are frustrated.
As Beijing bullies and pressures Taiwan, Japanese companies and people have initiated a campaign to buy more Taiwanese pineapples in the hope that this might help Taiwanese farmers make it through this difficult period and minimize their losses.
In light of the disparate approaches to the issue in the two export markets, and the anger that China’s unreasonable and rude actions have stoked among Taiwanese, one can only wonder if the public has considered that Taiwan continues to ban imports of food products from five Japanese prefectures because it still considers them potentially radiation-contaminated 10 years after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Many Taiwanese feel that China is using the insects as an excuse to harm Taiwanese pineapple farmers, and that the ban might contravene international regulations, but what are Taiwan’s reasons for continuing to ban the food imports from Japan?
In December last year, COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said during an interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan that the rest of the world had removed restrictions and resumed food imports from the area, and that Taiwan and China were the only two countries with restrictions still in place.
Chen also said that other countries have conducted strict tests of food products from the five prefectures and that all results were within the legal limits, showing almost zero contamination with radioactive material.
People in other countries are just as afraid as Taiwanese of consuming radiation-contaminated food products. Given that other countries have conducted tests and removed import bans on food products from the area, it is confusing that Taiwan continues to uphold the ban.
Is Taiwan abiding by international trade regulations? Is it reasonable to uphold the import ban?
Taiwanese should at times put themselves in the shoes of others. Although food safety is of course important, banning certain imports should be based only on scientific standards.
Taiwanese do not tolerate the unreasonable trade barriers imposed by China, its bullying and pressure on the nation, but Taiwan continues to ban the Japanese food imports based on a completely unscientific notion of radioactive contamination.
In what way is this not just another unreasonable trade barrier?
It has been two years since Taiwanese in a referendum in 2018 voted in favor of upholding the import ban on food products from the five Japanese prefectures, and it is time that the public engage in some self-reflection.
Vincent Tsai works in the semiconductor industry.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS