The EU is maintaining the threat of a seafood import ban on Thailand because the global exporter is still not doing enough to improve its fisheries and labor practices, officials said yesterday.
The 28-nation EU is keeping up the pressure because even some Thai legislation enacted last year to curb illegal practices was not sufficiently followed up by action over the past months, two EU officials with knowledge of the ongoing talks told reporters.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is seen as a major contributor to dwindling fish stocks across the globe, while in Thailand it has also led to illegal labor practices amounting in some cases to slave labor.
“We continue to have serious concerns about the steps taken by the Thai authorities to fight illegal and unregulated fishing activities,” said one official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the talks.
“This means that further action by the EU Commission cannot be ruled out,” the unnamed official said.
Thai authorities insist that they are working hard to fundamentally change the practices of the past.
Thailand, the third-largest global seafood exporter, with a stake of 8.1 percent of global exports, needs the wealthy European market to maintain its seafood prominence. Annual Thai fish exports to the EU are estimated to be worth between 575 million euros and 730 million euros (US$650 million and US$825 million).
Beyond illegal fishing though, Thailand also faces the slavery issue.
The Associated Press has exposed during a two-year investigation labor abuses amounting to slavery.
In addition to freeing more than 2,000 slaves, the reporting resulted in the arrest of a dozen alleged traffickers — so far eight have been convicted and sentenced — the seizing of millions of dollars’ worth of seafood and vessels, several lawsuits and legal action by governments and corporations.
EU officials have said that the slavery and labor issues are intimately intertwined with the illegal fishing industry and that a cleanup of the sector would automatically also have an effect on the labor situation.
The news that Thailand would continue to work under a so-called yellow card threat came as the EU Commission was assessing other nations from across the world over whether they would be punished for unsustainable fishing that further weakens threatened fish stocks or whether reforms in some nations would result in lifting the threat of sanctions.
EU officials said that dialogue is still proving difficult.
“Lately we have been receiving less evidence of reform from them and more evidence from third countries and NGOs [non-governmental organizations]” of illegal practices or a lack of enforcement, the official said.
Both sides are to meet again next month in Brussels amid hope progress can be made.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last