Taiwan hopes to obtain a permit to export sugar apples to Japan by the end of this year, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said on Tuesday.
The Council of Agriculture has applied for the permit as part of its efforts to diversify Taiwan’s export markets after Beijing banned imports of sugar apples, wax apples and pineapples from Taiwan, the bureau said.
Agricultural officials started to focus on Japan as a potential market after Taiwanese pineapples were received well by local consumers, while Singapore is another possible market, it said.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Taiwanese researchers have developed a proprietary flash-freezing technology especially to export sugar apples, the bureau said, adding that the technology is being released to the private sector.
The council has filed an application to export fresh and frozen sugar apples, and is awaiting approval, it said.
The bureau has sent documents regarding produce certificates and pest and disease control to its Japanese counterpart, it added.
In Japan, fresh fruits from regions affected by Oriental fruit flies must be sterilized by the country of origin before they are allowed into Japan, it said.
The council’s researchers have carried out experiments to determine whether freeze or steam sterilization worked better on sugar apples, and settled on the latter, the bureau said.
Steam sterilization would also be used for Taiwanese mangoes and lychees marked for Japan, which could eliminate the need for Japan to send officials to Taiwan to conduct inspections, it said.
Japan is an important buyer of Taiwanese mangoes, lychees, grapes, pomeloes, papayas and ponkan oranges, it said.
Taiwanese officials have been carrying out inspections of these fruits since 2020 due to COVID-19 travel restrictions between the countries, it said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators