The Council of Agriculture (COA) has announced that it will install inspection stations in Kinmen and Matsu in expectation of the establishment of direct links between the two offshore islands and China.
Lee Chin-lung (
In view of the opening of direct trade, postal and transport links, or "small three links" (
The COA will send personnel to man the stations, which will shoulder the responsibility of keeping out pests from China.
In addition, the COA is planning to establish 44 monitoring sites in major crop fields, harbors and produce markets in Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu -- another offshore island group -- to step up its watch against the medfly, peach twig borer and codling moth, as well as to establish a surveillance network.
A COA official noted that after the opening of the "small three links," Chinese agricultural, animal and fishery products exported to the outlying islands will not be allowed to be reshipped to Taiwan proper.
COA Fisheries Administrator Hu Hsin-hua (
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