DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-fang (
Tsai told a press conference that attempts to register the Taiwan Beer and Kinmen Kaoliang brands in China have reportedly been blocked by Beijing on the grounds that geographical names may not be part of trademark registrations.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"It is outrageous that unfair trade practices still exists in the alcohol trade across the Taiwan Strait now that both sides have been admitted to the WTO and Taiwan businessmen have made huge investments on the mainland," Tsai said.
He said the entry of Tsing Tao and Yanjing beer to the local market resulted in an 8-percent decrease in beer sales for the state-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Co's (TTL) last year.
Tsai said both the US and the EU have approved TTL's applications to market its beer under the "Taiwan Beer" label in those markets.
"It's unreasonable that China still does not allow us to sell Taiwan beer in its market," Tsai said.
A TTL executive told reporters that the company first tried to register its "Taiwan Beer" trademark with Chinese authorities in 1998 and then again in 2000, but both applications were rejected.
He said the company was later given approval to market the beer under the name "TTL Beer. "
The official said the company filed another application for a "Taiwan Beer" trademark last year following China and Taiwan's accession to the WTO.The Kinmen Liquor Co has reportedly encountered similar problems in trying to sell its Kinmen Kaoliang on the Chinese market because it cannot get its trademark registered.
Media reports say that TTL and Kinmen Liquor will ask the government to start negotiations with China over the trademark restrictions under the WTO framework.
Kinmen Liquor is reportedly resisting the opening of Taiwan's market to Chinese liquor products until the problem is resolved.
Media reports also note that TTL's Long Life cigarette brand was registered in China by Xunyang Tobacco and Liquor Group a few years ago, which would mean the company cannot market its cigarettes under that name in China.
Xunyang is reportedly asking for NT$30 million to release the rights to the "Long Life" name.
However, TTL markets China's Zhonghua brand cigarettes locally.
Taiwan Tobacco is reportedly negotiating with the Chinese representatives of Zhonghua cigarettes and Xunyang Tobacco to try to arrange an exchange of trademark registrations.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
COMPLIANCE: The SEF has helped more than 3,900 Chinese verify documents, indicating that most of those affected are willing to cooperate, the MAC said More than 3,100 spouses from China have submitted proof of renunciation of their Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The National Immigration Agency has since April issued notices to spouses to submit proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration on or before June 30 or their Taiwanese household registration would be revoked. People having difficulties obtaining such a document can request an extension of the deadline or submit a written affidavit in lieu of it. The council said it would hold a briefing at 2:30pm on Friday at the immigration agency’s Taichung office in cooperation with the
The government-funded human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is to be expanded to boys at junior-high school starting in September, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. The Taiwan Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan, the Taiwan Head and Neck Society, the Formosa Cancer Foundation and the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents Associations held a joint news conference in Taipei yesterday to raise public awareness about the risks of HPV infection, regardless of gender. Invited to give an address, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun
RSS