China on Monday announced it was lifting a ban on importing pomeloes from Taiwan ahead of this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival. In doing so, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office emphasized that “Taiwan and China are one family and it is easier to negotiate things in the family.” It added that the two sides should interact on the basis of the so-called “1992 consensus” and oppose “Taiwan independence.” This clearly shows that the ban and its removal are politically motivated.
China imposed the ban on pomelo imports from Taiwan on Aug. 3, 2022, a move widely seen as a measure to retaliate against Taiwan for receiving then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi on Aug. 2 to 3. It is only one part of the economic prohibitions Beijing imposed that month, which included blocking imports of more than 2,000 Taiwanese products, ranging from agricultural and fishery goods to cooking oil and cakes.
This is part of China’s playbook of using coercive measures, including military threats and economic restrictions, to pressure Taiwanese sovereignty and democracy, and as revenge for engagement with the international community.
Flouting international regulations and cross-strait agreements to discuss bilateral trading issues through official channels, China has made it clear that selectively lifting bans on Taiwanese goods is a political tactic. In the case of pomeloes, China’s reopening is limited to a few farms in Hualien County and was announced right after a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, led by KMT caucus whip and former Hualien County magistrate Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), echoed the “1992 consensus” and Beijing’s “one China principle” during a meeting with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧).
The same playbook was used when China resumed imports of Taiwanese atemoyas and groupers last year. The removal of the import ban on Taiwanese atemoyas was limited to 25 farms in Taitung, which account for a mere 3 percent of nationwide farms, and was announced after KMT Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling’s (饒慶鈴) echoed the “1992 consensus” and opposed “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in Beijing.
Additionally, China only resumed imports of Taiwan’s groupers from seven fisheries associated with KMT lawmakers, a move widely seen as a favor to the pro-China opposition party and to put pressure on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party before the nation’s crucial presidential and legislative elections.
Beijing’s coercive and arbitrary restrictions on Taiwanese imports have damaged cross-strait trading and driven Taiwan to diversify its export markets to reduce its dependence on China.
As the trade friction between Beijing and Washington escalated, and the Chinese economy slumped, Taiwan’s shift away from China, however, could be a silver lining, which has bolstered its economic resilience.
Taiwan’s exports reached historic peaks between 2021 and last year, including an all-time high of US$43.5 billion in March 2022 and a record trade surplus last year. China, including Hong Kong, accounted for 28.57 percent of Taiwan’s two-way trade last year, the lowest in 10 years and down from an average of more than 30 percent from 2015 to 2021, Ministry of Finance statistics showed.
The US (17.5 percent) and Japan (16.4 percent) have replaced China (13 percent) as the top export destinations for Taiwanese agricultural products since 2022. Taiwan’s pomelo exports have also expanded to new markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada.
By deploying coercive and “united front” tactics to bully Taiwan, China should learn that they only serve to alienate the two sides of the Taiwan Strait economically and emotionally.
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
Next week, the nation is to celebrate the Lunar New Year break. Unfortunately, cold winds are a-blowing, literally and figuratively. The Central Weather Administration has warned of an approaching cold air mass, while obstinate winds of chaos eddy around the Legislative Yuan. English theologian Thomas Fuller optimistically pointed out in 1650 that “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” We could paraphrase by saying the coldest days are just before the renewed hope of spring. However, one must temper any optimism about the damage being done in the legislature by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), under
To our readers: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, from Sunday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 2, the Taipei Times will have a reduced format without our regular editorials and opinion pieces. From Tuesday to Saturday the paper will not be delivered to subscribers, but will be available for purchase at convenience stores. Subscribers will receive the editions they missed once normal distribution resumes on Sunday, Feb. 2. The paper returns to its usual format on Monday, Feb. 3, when our regular editorials and opinion pieces will also be resumed.
Young Taiwanese are consuming an increasing amount of Chinese content on TikTok, causing them to have more favorable views of China, a Financial Times report cited Taiwanese social scientists and politicians as saying. Taiwanese are being exposed to disinformation of a political nature from China, even when using TikTok to view entertainment-related content, the article published on Friday last week said. Fewer young people identify as “Taiwanese” (as opposed to “Chinese”) compared with past years, it wrote, citing the results of a survey last year by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation. Nevertheless, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would be hard-pressed
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