Faced with China's latest "charm offensive" of canceling tariffs on fruits imported from Taiwan, government and fruit farmers alike should turn down the petty favor and eye the larger global market instead, academics urged in a forum in Taipei yesterday.
"The preferential measure is aimed at winning the hearts of our southern farmers. But our government and farmers must act with great caution. We do not know what lies behind the false show of detente," said Chen Lung-chu (陳隆志), the president of Taiwan New Century Foundation.
One of the plausible risks could be a forceful slashing of tariffs on Chinese fruit, according to Chen.
"Once our government steps into the trap, China could easily cite the `spirit of reciprocity' at the World Trade Organization, and ask Taiwan to cancel its tariff on Chinese fruit in return," he said.
"Our farmers will then be victims rather than beneficiaries," he warned.
Chen's words came after China has been playing on hopes of a thaw in cross-strait relations. Marking the end of week-long visit of Taiwan's opposition party leader Lien Chan (連戰) to China early this week, Chinese officials promised gifts of a pair of giant pandas, canceling tariffs on imported fruits from Taiwan, and allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.
The false display of goodwill is aimed at offsetting the negative impact of China's "Anti-Secession" Law in Taiwan and shifting the Communist propaganda war to an agricultural front, experts say.
"The Chinese willingness to cancel their tariffs on fruit is set to turn the farmers of southern Taiwan -- some of the strongest advocates of Taiwanese independence -- into advocates of closer ties with China," said Chen.
The southern farmers are also a cornerstone of President Chen Shui-bien's (陳水扁) political base, who grew up in a farming village in Tainan County.
The biggest fear is an inadvertent leak of technology resulting from loosely regulated investments and trades.
"What China wants is our agricultural technology so they can upgrade their plant strains," said Chuang Po-lin (莊伯林), a National Policy Advisor to President Chen.
Once Chinese farmers learn about the technology from Taiwanese investors, Taiwanese agricultural goods could lose their competitiveness in no time, Chuang said.
"Even in Kinmen, Taiwan's outlying islet, Tianjin pears are half the price of Taiwanese pears. But people still buy Taiwanese pears because ours are much more juicy and crisp," he said.
"However, as soon as Chinese pear farmers learn the technology and improve their strains, Taiwanese pears will lose their market to much cheaper Chinese pears," Chuang noted.
For instance, I-Chuan rice (益全香米), one of Taiwan's best-known rice products, was seen growing on Chinese soil within three months of the brand's first cultivation in Taiwan.
"For the past two years, I-chuan rice earned Taiwan NT$3 billion per year. Once China dumps the same brand of rice here, our rice farmers will not be able to survive," said Yang Ping-shih (楊平世), a former dean of the college of agriculture at National Taiwan University.
Agricultural scholars urged the government to weigh the pros and cons before allowing any advantage that would be in China's favor.
"Our government should not put all its eggs in one basket. Marketing our agricultural goods to the global market is wiser than succumbing to China fever," Yang said.
China is the fourth largest export market for Taiwanese agricultural goods, according to data provided by the Council of Agriculture.
Last year, China imported US$290 million worth of agricultural products from Taiwan, accounting for only 8 percent of Taiwan's total agricultural exports worth an estimated US$3.55 billion.
However, since Hong Kong is the second-largest buyer of Taiwanese agricultural goods, academics are wary that a Chinese tariff-free policy on Taiwan's fruit will reinforce the island economy's perilous reliance on the Chinese market.
"It's time for the government to build Taiwan into a research center for tropical agriculture and help to establish sales outlets for Taiwanese products in markets worldwide," Yang said.
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