The Chinese government on Feb. 26 announced an import ban on Taiwanese pineapples, saying that scale insects were found in several imported batches.
As a result, pineapples that were originally scheduled to be exported to China had no place to go, and pineapple farmers found themselves exposed to huge losses.
The Council of Agriculture (COA) has said that even if Taiwanese pineapples were contaminated with scale insects, the Japanese government would only require that they be fumigated before being released.
This highlights the Chinese government’s rogue and unreasonable behavior.
Judging from news reports over the past few days, Taiwanese are as angry as they are frustrated.
As Beijing bullies and pressures Taiwan, Japanese companies and people have initiated a campaign to buy more Taiwanese pineapples in the hope that this might help Taiwanese farmers make it through this difficult period and minimize their losses.
In light of the disparate approaches to the issue in the two export markets, and the anger that China’s unreasonable and rude actions have stoked among Taiwanese, one can only wonder if the public has considered that Taiwan continues to ban imports of food products from five Japanese prefectures because it still considers them potentially radiation-contaminated 10 years after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Many Taiwanese feel that China is using the insects as an excuse to harm Taiwanese pineapple farmers, and that the ban might contravene international regulations, but what are Taiwan’s reasons for continuing to ban the food imports from Japan?
In December last year, COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said during an interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan that the rest of the world had removed restrictions and resumed food imports from the area, and that Taiwan and China were the only two countries with restrictions still in place.
Chen also said that other countries have conducted strict tests of food products from the five prefectures and that all results were within the legal limits, showing almost zero contamination with radioactive material.
People in other countries are just as afraid as Taiwanese of consuming radiation-contaminated food products. Given that other countries have conducted tests and removed import bans on food products from the area, it is confusing that Taiwan continues to uphold the ban.
Is Taiwan abiding by international trade regulations? Is it reasonable to uphold the import ban?
Taiwanese should at times put themselves in the shoes of others. Although food safety is of course important, banning certain imports should be based only on scientific standards.
Taiwanese do not tolerate the unreasonable trade barriers imposed by China, its bullying and pressure on the nation, but Taiwan continues to ban the Japanese food imports based on a completely unscientific notion of radioactive contamination.
In what way is this not just another unreasonable trade barrier?
It has been two years since Taiwanese in a referendum in 2018 voted in favor of upholding the import ban on food products from the five Japanese prefectures, and it is time that the public engage in some self-reflection.
Vincent Tsai works in the semiconductor industry.
Translated by Perry Svensson
In the first year of his second term, US President Donald Trump continued to shake the foundations of the liberal international order to realize his “America first” policy. However, amid an atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability, the Trump administration brought some clarity to its policy toward Taiwan. As expected, bilateral trade emerged as a major priority for the new Trump administration. To secure a favorable trade deal with Taiwan, it adopted a two-pronged strategy: First, Trump accused Taiwan of “stealing” chip business from the US, indicating that if Taipei did not address Washington’s concerns in this strategic sector, it could revisit its Taiwan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) challenges and ignores the international rules-based order by violating Taiwanese airspace using a high-flying drone: This incident is a multi-layered challenge, including a lawfare challenge against the First Island Chain, the US, and the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) defines lawfare as “controlling the enemy through the law or using the law to constrain the enemy.” Chen Yu-cheng (陳育正), an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies, at Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Kang College (National Defense University), argues the PLA uses lawfare to create a precedent and a new de facto legal
Chile has elected a new government that has the opportunity to take a fresh look at some key aspects of foreign economic policy, mainly a greater focus on Asia, including Taiwan. Still, in the great scheme of things, Chile is a small nation in Latin America, compared with giants such as Brazil and Mexico, or other major markets such as Colombia and Argentina. So why should Taiwan pay much attention to the new administration? Because the victory of Chilean president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, a right-of-center politician, can be seen as confirming that the continent is undergoing one of its periodic political shifts,
Taiwan’s long-term care system has fallen into a structural paradox. Staffing shortages have led to a situation in which almost 20 percent of the about 110,000 beds in the care system are vacant, but new patient admissions remain closed. Although the government’s “Long-term Care 3.0” program has increased subsidies and sought to integrate medical and elderly care systems, strict staff-to-patient ratios, a narrow labor pipeline and rising inflation-driven costs have left many small to medium-sized care centers struggling. With nearly 20,000 beds forced to remain empty as a consequence, the issue is not isolated management failures, but a far more
RSS