The Chinese General Administration of Customs yesterday announced the lifting of a ban on some agricultural and fishery imports from Taiwan, following a meeting with a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation.
The announcement was made shortly after a meeting between China General Administration of Customs
Deputy Director Zhao Zhenglian (趙增連) and the delegation, which was headed by KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi.
Photo: Taipei Times file
Zhao told a news conference that China was “willing to strengthen communications with the KMT and other parties in Taiwan on the issue of resuming imports of pomelo and other agricultural and fishery products.”
Zhao said the decision was being made “on the basis of scientific assessments in accordance with China’s laws and regulations,” and that Beijing hoped to “actively promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations on the basis of adherence to the ‘1992 consensus’ and opposition to Taiwanese independence.”
China initially imposed a ban on imports of pomeloes, largehead hairtail and frozen mackerel from Taiwan following a visit to Taipei by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2022, in what was seen as a retaliatory response to the visit.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said it has not received official confirmation regarding the lifting of the ban, and added that it hoped all future communications on the issue would go through official channels.
Acting Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said he had only learned about the news through media reports, and that he had no information about a specific time frame for the resumption of regular trade of the banned items.
In the past, communication with China on the issue of agricultural products proceeded through a shared quarantine platform, he said, adding that he hoped the platform would continue to be used.
“The trade of agricultural products requires quarantine inspections, so we hope that China would communicate with us through proper channels and not through media reports,” he said.
Prior to the ban, Taiwan exported 7,062 tonnes of pomeloes in 2021, of which 4,821 tonnes were sold to China, Ministry of Agriculture statistics showed.
In 2022, exports dropped to 2,909 tonnes for the year, of which 2,623 tonnes were sold to Hong Kong — the year’s largest export market for the fruit.
Last year, 2,709 tonnes of pomeloes were exported, with Hong Kong again being the largest buyer at 1,823 tonnes.
“The Ministry of Agriculture attaches importance to every export market and would continue to explore different high-end markets for Taiwanese products,” Chen said.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted that he made up the term in 2000 to break the cross-strait deadlock and alleviate tension.
Additional reporting by CNA
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS