Mangoes and atemoyas, two types of Taiwanese fruit, have grabbed the attention of the media in the past week — but for different reasons. One drew praise for its success, while the other has been embroiled in controversy and heated political debate.
Taiwanese mangoes entered the French market for the first time this month, reaching Paris’ main wholesale food market before being distributed to luxury hotels, fine restaurants, specialty stores and premium retailers. Their reputation for high quality led to strong demand, with reports them being rapidly sold out and positive reception from French consumers. The debut followed years of negotiations over plant quarantine rules and compliance with strict EU agricultural standards, marking a milestone for Taiwan’s fruit exports. The Ministry of Agriculture said importers in the UK, Germany and other European countries have also expressed interest.
The ministry said on Thursday that after the EU introduced stricter plant health rules in 2019 requiring scientific evidence for rigorous reviews, Taiwan spent years improving breeds, cultivation facilities, product traceability, registered orchards and cold-chain systems to secure the approval.
The ministry said the export supply chain includes 65 exporters, 635 farms and 584 hectares of mango orchards. Taiwanese mango exports reached 1,101.06 tonnes this year, up 282.7 percent from 287.73 tonnes last year.
“From Taiwan’s orchards to Paris’ markets, a journey that spans thousands of kilometers is, in reality, the hard-won result of long-term investments and collaboration among farmers, agribusinesses, logistics teams, quarantine officials and the government,” former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on social media.
She also shared details about establishing the national cold chain logistics system for agricultural products during her tenure, as well as the government’s continuous efforts to expand agricultural exports to reduce reliance on a single market and to tap into high-income consumer markets.
Running counter to the success story of Taiwan’s mangoes is the developing scandal involving atemoya exports. Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) is under investigation after participating in China’s Straits Forum via a prerecorded video in which she reportedly promoted atemoyas grown in Taitung.
Yao might have breached cross-strait regulations by cooperating with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities, the Mainland Affairs Council said.
The council has labeled the Straits Forum, held in China’s Xiamen on June 13, a “united front” platform targeting Taiwan, and explicitly banned central and local government officials from participating in it in any form. Yao defended her action by saying it was “the right thing to do” — helping local atemoya farmers find export markets — as the forum had a contract-signing session for the procurement of Taiwanese agricultural products.
Many Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians voiced support for Yao and accused the central government of harming farmers’ livelihoods for ideological reasons.
The council says it does not oppose Yao promoting Taiwanese atemoyas in other countries, nor is it against selling atemoyas in China, but it is against officials participating in the forum, as it allows Beijing to create the impression that Taiwanese officials are listening to Chinese officials’ speeches.
China has repeatedly used agricultural trade as political leverage, and “fruit purchase orders” made at the forum are actually “political orders,” exposing Taiwanese to political risk, it added.
The ministry said Beijing’s invitation to Taiwan to export atemoyas is an example of bait-and-switch tactics: using large-scale purchase agreements and tariff exemptions to lure farmers and create strong dependence on its market, before abruptly suspending imports, leaving farmers with severe financial losses.
In 2020, China accounted for more than 95 percent of Taiwan’s atemoya exports, totaling about 13,500 tonnes and worth about NT$1.5 billion (US$47.49 million).
In September 2021, China suddenly suspended imports, citing quarantine pest detections. It partially resumed imports in June 2023 from a limited number of farms and exporters. In 2024, it imposed a 20 percent tariff and a 9 percent value-added tax. Meanwhile, China expanded its own atemoya orchards and reportedly improved cultivation using techniques taught by Taiwanese farmers, leaving Taiwanese atemoyas at a disadvantage in the Chinese market.
As China continues to use economic coercion to exert political pressure on Taiwan, the two cases show why the Democratic Progressive Party-led government has sought to reduce dependence on China and expand Taiwan’s ties with the wider world.
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