After two years of negotiations, rice grown in Taiwan has finally passed Beijing’s quarantine requirements and been given the greenlight for export to China, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.
The council’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said it began negotiating with China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in late 2010, and that after having an inspection team from China visit Taiwan’s rice production region this month, the two sides reached an agreement.
The two sides agreed that a management standard for rice processing factories must be registered at the council’s Agriculture and Food Agency, while the rice must be inspected and certified by the bureau before it can be exported, the council said.
In recent years, China has become Taiwan’s second-largest export market for agricultural products, the council said, adding that the maximum amount of rice exported to China for the second half of this year would be 50,000 tonnes, though adjustments would be made according to circumstances.
Maintaining an adequate supply to meet Taiwan’s domestic demand for rice would still be the first priority, the council added.
Saying that the nation produces high-quality rice, the council added that it would work to help Taiwanese farmers strengthen their branding and marketing strategies in an effort to differentiate products from Taiwan from their lower-priced counterparts on the Chinese market.
In related developments, the Kaohsuing District Agricultural Research and Extension Station said a Japanese rice company yesterday signed a contract to procure 500 tonnes of rice strain Rice Kaohsiung No. 145 this year.
Station director Huang Te-chang (黃德昌) said the strain was cultivated and promoted by the station in 2004 and has won many quality competitions.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
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