Guangxi, a province in southern China previously unable to grow grapes, has now turned into the biggest grape producer in the country and is very likely to subject Taiwanese grape farmers to intense competition in overseas markets, a legislative report said.
Grapes are only one of many kinds of agricultural products in which Taiwan is losing its competitive advantage to China in foreign and even in domestic markets, the report said.
“And it all happened thanks to an outflow of Taiwan’s agricultural expertise, including professionals, plant seeds and planting techniques, to China,” it said.
Among other examples cited in the report was the raising of eels and Taiwan Tilapia.
In the 1980s, Taiwan-raised eels enjoyed a significant market share in Japan, but it fell from a 74 percent market share in 1992 to 43 percent in 2005 and to 4.47 percent in 2009, while China saw its market share in Japan’s imported preserved eels market jump from 21 percent to 95 percent.
Since China overtook Taiwan in 2000 with its exports of Taiwan tilapia to the US and European markets, where Taiwan had been a dominant force, China’s exports of the high-value product are now 20 times higher than those of Taiwan, the report said.
It added that some Taiwanese strains of agricultural products grown or raised in China have also dealt a blow to Taiwanese farmers, as the farmers’ products have been sent back to the country because they were still prohibited from entering China. They included red carrots, pineapples, groupers, black tiger shrimps, abalone, butterfly orchids, carnations and mushrooms.
In the six years since 2006, China has acted “in a more systematic way” to lure Taiwan’s farming sector, with a total of 29 “Development Parks for Taiwan Farmers” established in 14 provinces as of this year, in addition to nine “Cross-Strait Agricultural Cooperative Experimental Zones” that have been set up since 1997, according to the report.
China not only offers Taiwan-funded enterprises in the agricultural parks a set of incentives in land acquisition, tax credits and lending, but also encourages and invites award-winning Taiwanese farmers to visit China through organized tours, or offer them money in exchange for seeds and techniques, the report said.
The report said that the 3,000 hectare Zhangping Yongfu Development Park for Taiwan Farmers, one of six in Fujian Province in southeast China, is being planted with oolong tea, all by Taiwan farmers from Nantou County, a famous tea-producing area, and is being developed into what China calls the “Alishan (阿里山) of China.”
It was estimated by Chinese research institutes that their annual production of oolong tea, which is under cultivation in the Zhangping Yongfu park, could be as high as three-fifths of the amount of high mountain oolong tea produced in Taiwan annually, the report said.
According to the report, based on data from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, the investment made by Taiwan-funded enterprises in agricultural production in China amounts to US$6.7 billion, far higher than the figure provided by the Investment Commission at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which was US$4.3 billion.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS