The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said it would budget more than NT800 million (US$26.92 million) to help Taiwanese fish farmers, after China this week implemented a ban on grouper imports from Taiwan.
The Chinese General Administration of Customs on Friday last week announced that it would suspend the imports from Monday, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year.
The council yesterday said it would offer grouper farmers cash subsidies to promote their products in other Asian countries.
Photo: CNA
They would receive NT$40 per kilogram of grouper transported by ship and NT$75 per kilogram transported by plane, it said.
Exports to other places — including the US, Canada, the EU, New Zealand, Australia and the Middle East — would receive subsidies of NT$50 per kilogram transported by ship and NT$75 per kilogram transported by plane, the council added.
It also budgeted NT$40 million to initiate overseas promotion of Taiwanese grouper, the COA said.
The Fisheries Agency is setting aside NT$82.6 million to fund interest-free loans running up to one year, and would offer assistance and training for those interested in raising grouper, agency Deputy Director-General Lin Kuo-ping (林國平) said.
The program would run until May next year, Lin said.
The agency said it is also allotting NT$377 million for subsidies of NT$40 per kilogram of grouper that has been scaled, gilled and gutted, NT$40 per kilogram of grouper steaks or filets, and other expenditures for fish farmers working with online platforms, supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants.
COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) wrote on Facebook that Beijing wrongfully accused three farmers of producing allegedly tainted fish found on two ships.
The fish on those ships came from 11 separate farms, Chen said, adding that tests conducted there were negative for tetracycline, malachite green and crystal violet.
“This scientifically demonstrates that Taiwanese groupers are safe,” Chen said.
Chen said the council would provide the findings to its Chinese counterpart, urging it to provide proof of its claims.
China should abide by international law and uphold the global trade order, he said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said China was “obstructing Taiwan’s freedom of trade.”
The government would stand with Taiwanese fish farmers, and continue to uphold and protect their rights, she said during a visit to fish processing plants and farms in Kaohsiung.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsu-lei
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
TRADE MISSION: After Fijian elections in December last year, pro-democratic parties formed a coalition and overruled a name change imposed by the former government The Taipei Trade Office in Fiji has been restored to its former name, the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Fiji on Friday last week issued a note verbale to the office saying that the name change was retroactively effective from March 15, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) told a news conference in Taipei. The mission’s diplomatic privileges have been reinstated as stipulated in Fiji’s Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act, which was enacted in 1971, Chow said. Taiwan set up a trade
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday departed for a 12-day trip to China as scheduled, despite calls for him to cancel the trip after Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan as an apparent result of China’s dollar diplomacy. “This is my first trip to China. I was 37 when I began handling cross-strait affairs in the government. Now I am 73 and have waited 36 years for the visit. It is indeed a bit too long, but I am glad I can go,” Ma of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. “Aside from paying respects to
‘INDISPENSABLE ROLE’: Despite stopovers in the US, Tsai said the aim of her trip is to ‘demonstrate determination to deepen exchanges’ with the allies of the nation President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday afternoon left Taiwan on a 10-day trip to Central America that includes stopovers in New York and Los Angeles. “Through this visit, I will express my gratitude to diplomatic partners for their support of Taiwan,” Tsai said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport shortly before boarding the plane. The trip to Guatemala and Belize — her first overseas journey since the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping around the world in early 2020 — aims to “demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to deepen exchanges” with its Central American allies, she said. Tsai said that she and her delegation would also explore the possibility