Just on June 10, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Department of the General Administration of Customs of Chinese mainland announced that due to the repeated detection of banned drugs, the mainland will suspend the import of Taiwan grouper into the mainland from the 13th.
In order to protect the health and life safety of mainland consumers, the mainland's approach is reasonable and legal, but for the Taiwan authorities, this is completely a breach of the big defense, and all kinds of rumors of so-called "trade weaponization" naturally followed.
But what we want to say is that this wave in Taiwan is completely self-inflicted.
According to the relevant notice released on the 10th, since last year, the mainland customs has repeatedly detected malachite green and crystalline purple banned drugs from mainland groupers exported from Taiwan, and also detected that the mincil exceeded the standard. In order to prevent risks and protect the health and life safety of consumers, in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations and standards of the mainland, the import of Taiwan grouper into the mainland will be suspended from the 13th of this month.
The so-called crystal violet, is a dye, research has confirmed that animals have carcinogenic, teratogenic, mutagenic toxic side effects. Malachite green is also a synthetic dye that can poison the liver of laboratory animals, cause thyroid abnormalities, and affect fetal growth, causing cancer in animals.
As for why these two harmful fuels appear in grouper, in fact, as long as anyone who knows taiwan's fishery knows it.
In recent decades, Taiwan's rapid economic development has built a large number of factories, and under the trend of all desire to look at money, the environmental protection problems of these factories have naturally been ignored for a long time. A large amount of sewage containing these toxic and harmful substances is directly discharged into the waters around Taiwan without treatment, which naturally causes huge losses to fisheries in the waters near Taiwan.
It can be seen that the culprit that causes Taiwan grouper to fail to meet food health norms is precisely the Taiwan authorities who disregard the health and safety of the people for the sake of the economy. For Taiwan, it is purely self-inflicted.
So is banning Taiwan groupers from entering the mainland market a big blow to Taiwan's grouper farming industry?
Yes, it's big.
Grouper is low in fat, high in protein, rich in nutrients, tender and white meat, excellent taste, known as "sea chicken". Coupled with the influence of traditional food culture, it is a highly respected high-grade edible fish in the southeast coast of the mainland, especially in hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong, and is known as one of the four famous fish in China.
In recent years, the coastal economy of the mainland has developed rapidly, and the consumer demand for grouper has also risen. In 2020, the production of mainland grouper has risen to 283,900 tons, but it still cannot meet the market consumption demand. As a result, the mainland needs to import a large number of groupers every year, and Taiwan is the most important import area.
It is reported that more than 80% of Taiwan's grouper production is mainly exported, while 90% of the export market is concentrated in the mainland and Hong Kong. For example, in 2014, Taiwan's grouper exports set a record of 18,000 tons, of which 14,300 tons were exported to the mainland.
However, in 2020, affected by the new crown epidemic, Taiwan's grouper exports suffered a slash, and the export volume that year was only 0.67 million tons, which was one-third of the historical high in 2014. By 2021, exports will shrink further to 0.66 million tons, of which 0.61 million tons will be exported to the mainland.
Therefore, when Taiwan's grouper industry is already in a deep cold, Taiwan grouper has been rejected by the largest, or even the only, customer mainland because of the detection of banned drugs, which is nothing less than a disaster for Taiwan's grouper industry.
Of course, it should be noted that the mainland side only suspends relevant imports. That is to say, as long as the Taiwan authorities can recognize their mistakes in a timely manner, work with the industry, and solve the problem of banning drugs exceeding the standard as soon as possible, then the mainland market can once again open its doors to Taiwan.
But what the Taiwan authorities did next was what really surprised us:
These people did not say anything about the mistakes they had made, let alone provide any help to the relevant farmers, but instead politicized the matter and began to attack the mainland.
For example, Su Zhenchang, head of the Taiwan administrative department, said on the 12th, "Chinese mainland has not abided by international norms, and often political guidance and control of everything." The over-reliance Chinese mainland placed in the same basket in the past will be subject to their political blackmail and extortion. ”
Wu Chao-sup, head of Taiwan's foreign affairs department, also openly declared that the mainland previously banned Taiwan's "free pineapples" and now its target has turned to groupers, and "it is the mainland's consistent practice to buy goods, steal technology, and then weaponize trade."
The so-called pineapple incident in Wu Zhaoxie's mouth refers to the fact that in February 2021, due to the repeated interception of quarantine pests, the mainland announced a moratorium on importing pineapples from Taiwan.
At that time, the Taiwan side also accused the mainland side of engaging in "trade weaponization." However, as explained in black and white in the news, whether it is pineapple or grouper, it is prohibited by the Taiwan side that does not meet the relevant health inspection regulations of the mainland, which is not aimed at Taiwan, but is responsible for the life, health and safety of mainland consumers, no matter where the products come from are treated equally.
In the eyes of your Taiwan authorities, only by sacrificing the lives and health of mainland consumers to meet Taiwan's agricultural export expectations can this be regarded as "trade weaponization"?
And since we are talking about the issue of "trade weaponization," we would like to ask the Taiwan authorities even more: In order to pursue Taiwan independence in the past two years, you have not hesitated to follow the United States in implementing a technological and market blockade on the mainland, which has unfairly suppressed the mainland's industries, from chips to audio-visual services and shopping platforms.
Chinese mainland even if they are engaged in "trade weaponization," they are being persecuted by the Taiwan authorities and the Americans behind them, and the Taiwan authorities are purely to blame themselves.
Even if we take 10,000 steps back, since we are disgusted with the mainland's "weaponization of trade," then the Taiwan authorities will have a little backbone and directly announce that they will not do business with the mainland. But the funny thing is that the Taiwan authorities just don't have that backbone.
For example, Su Zhenchang, after scolding the mainland, said in a gray and slippery manner: "We have no preset position on Chinese mainland, we are always goodwill, as long as we are reciprocal and reciprocal, and there is no political premise, we are willing to have goodwill exchanges with Chinese mainland, and Taiwan has not closed the door to Chinese mainland." ”
In fact, as long as you check the relevant news, you know that just last year, even though cross-strait relations were so bad, The trade surplus of the Taiwan region with the mainland (excluding the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) still exceeded 170 billion US dollars. By the first five months of this year, Taiwan had earned a trade surplus of more than $40 billion from the mainland.
In the face of such huge trade profits, it is indeed too difficult for the Taiwan authorities to dare to "stand up and face the mainland" and disdain this little "small money."
So, when will Taiwan's grouper return to the mainland market? This question needs to be answered entirely by the Taiwan authorities themselves.