China’s customs administration late on Monday announced bans on more than 100 Taiwanese food brands ahead of a visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
Beijing said that the blacklisted exporters — which include tea, honey and seafood producers — failed to renew their export registration and could therefore only sell their products until the end of this month.
The exporters may submit additional documents this month, Food and Drug Administration Director Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) said, adding that the agency would help them complete their registrations.
Photo: CNA
The bans might be politically motivated, as Taiwanese manufacturers were treated differently than those from other countries, she said.
Exporters from other countries can upload their registration documents online by June next year, while Taiwanese exporters had to submit the paperwork by June this year, she added.
She condemned the tight deadline, saying that “trade across the Taiwan Strait should not be conducted this way, as it needs time for communication.”
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said the agency would soon announce remedial measures to help the exporters.
Taiwanese companies have registered 3,200 food products for export to China, 2,066 of which have been marked as “import suspended,” including those from Kuo Yuan Ye Corp (郭元益), Yu Jan Shin (裕珍馨), Kuai Kuai Co (乖乖), Imei Foods Co (義美食品), Chiate Bakery (佳德) and Kuang Ta Hsiang Foodstuffs Co (廣達香).
The banned manufacturers mainly produce prepared and processed foods such as pastries, whose export value to China and Hong Kong made up only 0.1 percent, or US$650 million, of Taiwan’s total exports, Ministry of Finance data showed.
As exports of food and drinks to China had already fallen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ban would have a greater effect on fishing boats and seafood exporters, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said.
Taiwan last year exported US$44 million worth of pastries to China, but only US$10 million during the first half of this year, government data showed.
On the other hand, the total value of Taiwan’s seafood exports to China last year reached US$280 million and tea leaf exports reached US$31.67 million, while honey exports were only US$35,000.
Fifty-four fishing boats were asked to submit additional documents and the importation of more than 600 of their products was suspended, sources familiar with the issue said, adding that the bans prohibit the majority of Taiwanese seafood, tea and honey from reaching the Chinese market.
Beijing also requires fishing boats to submit Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification, Wu said.
Fisheries Agency Director-General Chang Chih-sheng (張致盛) said that affected vessels include deep-sea fishing boats and offshore fishing boats, adding that the agency would help them obtain HACCP certification if they plan to export to China.
China last year suspended imports of Taiwanese pineapples, custard apples and wax apples, and in June banned grouper imports, claiming that it found pests and excessive levels of prohibited chemicals in the products.
Additional reporting by Cheng Chi-fang,
Huang Pei-chun and CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS