China surprised Taiwan with an attempt to block pineapple imports, adding economic pressure on President Tsai Ing-wen’s government as it continues to spar with Beijing.
China will suspend imports of Taiwanese pineapples from March 1 after finding pests in recent shipments, China’s General Customs Administration said in a statement on Friday. This step was a normal precaution to protect biosecurity and prevent the import of plant diseases, a spokesman for the Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office said separately.
The move surprised Taiwanese officials, Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung told reporters in Taipei on Friday. Beijing’s claims were “untrue,” and 100% of pineapples exported had undergone tougher inspections since last year, he said.
“China has ambushed Taiwan with a unilateral announcement that it will stop imports of pineapple from Taiwan, showing that it is not based on normal trade considerations,” President Tsai said in a Facebook post. post. ‘I condemn this. I asked the Minister of Agriculture, Chen Chi-chung, to deal with it and help the farmers right away. “
She also said her government would spend NT $ 1 billion ($ 35.9 million) on measures to minimize the impact on farmers, including promoting other export markets.
China has a history of using trade to help it achieve its policy goals. It imposed restrictions on a range of Australian imports, including coal, wine, beef and lobster, as relations deteriorated after Canberra was excluded Huawei Technologies Co. of its 5G network and called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pineapples are an important source of income for farmers in central and southern Taiwan. Around 11% of the pineapple harvested in Taiwan is sold overseas, almost entirely to China.
While agriculture is good for less than 2% of Taiwan’s $ 710 billion technology-dominated economy, farmers and related industries remain a major constituency in Taiwanese politics, especially in the south.
China has increasingly increased pressure on Tsai, whose party supports independence. Chinese military fighter jets have raided Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on an almost daily basis for the past few months.
The Chinese Communist Party claims that Taiwan is part of its territory, a claim the Taiwan government rejects and considers the islands to be a de facto independent nation.
– With the help of Jasmine Ng
Updated with comments by President Tsai in the fourth and fifth paragraphs.