Following China’s announcement earlier yesterday that it had suspended imports of mangoes from Taiwan with immediate effect, the Ministry of Agriculture said it would take up the matter with the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Committee.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said in Beijing that Chinese customs officers had detected citrus mealybugs in mangoes from Taiwan, which she said pose a “severe threat” to China’s agricultural and ecological security.
Chinese officials informed Taiwan of the decision via official channels set out in a cross-strait agreement governing quarantine inspections for agricultural products, Chinese state media reported.
Photo: Taipei Times
“The above-mentioned measures are normal biosafety precautions, scientific and reasonable, and comply with relevant mainland laws, regulations and standards,” the office said.
In Taipei, the agriculture ministry criticized the suspension as unwarranted and out of step with international trade standards. It said it had not received any such complaints from other export destinations.
The ministry “deeply regrets that China has repeatedly violated international practices and arbitrarily interrupted trade without scientific dialogue,” it said in a statement.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said that China notified the ministry on June 15 and Aug. 3 that it had detected citrus mealybugs in shipments of mangoes from Taiwan.
The ministry then traced the shipments back to their source farms, and told Chinese officials on July 4 and on Thursday last week what steps were being taken to resolve the issue, he said.
The two cases are the only times Beijing has said citrus mealybugs had been found in the 5,689 mango shipments Taiwan has exported to China since 2018, Chen said.
The low detection rate and that China did not take steps to mitigate trade impacts — such as fumigating for citrus mealybugs — as recommended by the WTO, show that Beijing’s decision was “overly harsh” and out of line with international norms, Chen said, adding that the ministry would take the case to the WTO’s SPS Committee.
The suspension from China is unlikely to have major economic repercussions, he said.
Taiwan produced 174,000 tonnes of mangoes this year, of which only 4,000 tonnes, or 2.2 percent, were exported abroad, Chen said.
This year, China imported about 1,000 tonnes of Taiwan mangoes, while Japan and South Korea imported 700 and 600 tonnes respectively, he said.
Taiwan has complained for the past three years of Chinese import bans on agricultural and aquatic goods, including pineapples and grouper fish, saying they are part of a Chinese pressure campaign.
The latest announcement was made a few days after Vice President William Lai (賴清德) returned from a visit to Paraguay that included stopovers in the US.
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS