In a major concession designed to protect Taiwanese farmers, agricultural products from China will not be included in a planned cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement’s (ECFA) “early harvest list,” a Council of Agriculture official (COA) said.
Hsiao Tung-chung (蕭柊瓊), deputy director-general of the COA’s International Cooperation Division, said that during the second round of ECFA negotiations, which concluded on April 1, the Chinese side agreed not to demand further opening of the Taiwanese market for Chinese agricultural produce or to include such products on the “early harvest” list — goods and services that will enjoy lower or no tariffs if an ECFA is signed.
Taiwan maintains a ban on the importation of more than 800 agricultural products from China that were in effect when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office on May 20, 2008, and will not reduce tariffs on the 1,415 agricultural items already allowed, Hsiao said.
She was responding to remarks by former national policy adviser Ellen Huang (黃越綏) that Taiwan’s agriculture and fishery sectors could be seriously undermined if an ECFA were signed.
Hsiao said that at the first round of ECFA talks held in Beijing on Jan. 26, Taiwan refused to discuss further opening to Chinese agricultural products.
Costs are the main reason behind the government’s decision to allow imports of some types of agricultural products, she said.
For example, Taiwan began allowing the importation of watermelon seeds from China in 1989 because local farmers didn’t show interest in the product due to high production costs, Hsiao said.
Statistics from 2007 show that 7.97 hectares were devoted to watermelons, a figure that fell to 1.06 hectares in 2008.
There was almost no production last year, she said.
However, Taiwan has maintained bans the import of Chinese watermelons.
The opening to imports of Chinese Pu-erh tea leaves and garlic was also based on the fact that they are not produced locally, or as a result of high transport costs of imports from other countries, Hsiao said.
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