Introduction: Due to the repeated detection of banned drugs, the General Administration of Customs of Chinese mainland announced that it will suspend the import of grouper from Taiwan to the mainland from June 13. The DPP authorities repeated the rhetoric, calling the mainland's move "not in line with norms" and threatening to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization. Some commentators have pointed out that instead of reviewing the problems in a timely manner, the Taiwan authorities have once again distorted and interpreted the technical issues in a politicized manner, and in the end it is the ordinary people of Taiwan who are hurt.
The "banned drugs" storm sniped at cross-strait trade, and the Taiwan authorities refused to review it
From the notice issued by the General Administration of Customs on the 10th, it can be seen that since last year, the mainland customs has "repeatedly detected malachite green and crystal purple banned drugs from groupers exported from Taiwan to the mainland, 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 General Administration of Customs of the Mainland has decided to suspend the import of grouper from Taiwan to the mainland from June 13, 2022.
Aquaculture in Kaohsiung's Yong'an district is concerned that the suspension of grouper imports into the mainland will affect livelihoods. Image source: China News Agency, Hong Kong
However, the Taiwan authorities did not review this at the first time, but "called the mainland market" in disguise. The Taiwan Committee of Agriculture held a press conference on the morning of the 11th, claiming that the mainland's unilateral ban on the import of Grouper from Taiwan "does not conform to international norms" and will continue to "negotiate" and that if the mainland side does not respond, it will not rule out filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization. The DPP also issued a statement on the same day, claiming that the mainland's use of economic and trade means to "politically suppress" Taiwan is unacceptable and expresses "severe condemnation" for this.
Some experts said that judging from the content of the notice, the mainland's suspension of the import of Grouper from Taiwan is due to the need to prevent risks and protect the rights and interests of the people, and there is a basis for it. The DPP authorities do not review the problem and strengthen the control of the source, but instead suspend the import of Taiwan fruits from the mainland before, they once again distort the interpretation of the technical problem, lead to "mainland suppression", and evade their own regulatory responsibilities in a sophistry way, which is simply not helpful to solve the problem.
Goodwill cannot be squandered, and Taiwan scholars say that the mainland has "exhausted its benevolence and righteousness."
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and internal and external environmental impacts, cross-strait trade has continued to grow against the trend in recent years, and Taiwan's exports to the mainland have also been growing. Statistics show that in 2021, Taiwan exported a total of 6635 tons of live grouper, of which 6121 tons were sold to the mainland, accounting for 92.2%; 513 tonnes were sold to Hong Kong, accounting for 7.7%. In other words, almost 100% of the live grouper exported by Taiwan is sold to the mainland.
The picture shows fishermen in Kaohsiung City classifying the grouper they catch. Image from Taiwan's "Central News Agency"
Lin Dingpeng, president of the North Branch of the Kuomintang Sun Wen School, said that the mainland has long adopted a benevolent trade policy based on the overall consideration of caring for the people's livelihood and well-being of Taiwan compatriots and promoting cross-strait exchanges. In the past two years, problems have frequently arisen in the agricultural and fishery products sold to the mainland in the Taiwan region, which shows that the DPP Tsai Ing-wen authorities have only cared about ideology and constantly manipulated political issues in order to gain electoral benefits, thus ignoring the people's livelihood economy and failing to supervise the quality of agricultural products and aquatic products.
Professor Zhang Wensheng, vice president of the Institute of Taiwan Studies of Xiamen University, also said that in order to facilitate cross-strait trade, especially taiwan's agricultural and fishery products exported to the mainland, the mainland has given Taiwan many preferential conditions, including opening up some green channels, but the Taiwan side not only does not understand the mainland's goodwill, but also makes indiscriminate use of them, and actually fails to control the quality of some agricultural and fishery products exported to the mainland, especially exporting some inferior agricultural and fishery products to the mainland, which is extremely irresponsible. Zhang Wensheng pointed out that in the future, if the Taiwan region wants to continue to export agricultural and fishery products to the mainland, it must do a good job in quality control, on the one hand, in order to make the market for cross-strait trade more perfect, and on the other hand, to protect the lives, property, and physical health of the people on the mainland.
With no livelihood to survive, Taiwan fishermen call on the Taiwan authorities to "give a way to live"
The mainland is Taiwan's largest export market and source of trade surplus. However, the DPP authorities have taken the cross-strait trade dividend for granted and have constantly manipulated "opposing China and hating China" to escalate cross-strait antagonism. Su Heng, a commentator on Taiwan's current affairs, said that Taiwan's agricultural and fishery products are very dependent on the mainland market, cross-strait relations are not good, and in the end it is the people of Taiwan who are hurt.
Many fishermen have lost money and sold, and Taiwan's grouper market has "collapsed" many times. The image comes from the Internet
Pingtung, Kaohsiung and Tainan are the main producers of grouper in Taiwan, and the news of the mainland's suspension of the import of grouper from Taiwan has worried the local fishermen and called on the Taiwan authorities to communicate and negotiate with the mainland as soon as possible to give the fishermen a way to live. According to reports, since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic for more than two years, it has severely damaged the wedding market on which groupers on the island rely, and now the domestic sales are only about 30% of the past sales. If even the mainland market is blocked, the impact will be even greater. Farmers surnamed Chen in Fangliao Township, Pingtung County, said that after hearing the news of the grouper ban, the farmers were all filing and so on (Hokkien, afraid). The main market for grouper is still in the mainland, because of the epidemic relationship, the island market has not been good, if the next loss of the mainland market, there will definitely be slow sales, will inevitably lose money and sell, then the loss dare not imagine.
Zheng Zhaoyuan, director of the Island China Solar Aquaculture Development Association, said that Taiwan's agriculture and fishery is one of the industries that have benefited the most from the mainland's Huitai policy, and he called on Taiwan's aquaculture industry to "comply with relevant regulations on medication and promote mutual benefit and win-win results for fisheries on both sides of the strait." Farmers surnamed Chen said that once Taiwan's grouper fishing industry loses the mainland market, a series of practitioners in the industrial chain such as seedling breeding, feed, transportation, and nursery farms will be affected. He said that as ordinary people, they only want to have food and clothing and let the fish sell, but they also understand that food safety is no small matter, and hope that the relevant departments of the Taiwan authorities can strengthen counseling, increase the supervision of disk merchants, and do not throw the pot as soon as a problem arises. 【Comprehensive report of Huaxia Jingwei, refer to Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao】
Hong Kong media take stock: "Problems" in Taiwan's importation of agricultural and fishery products from the mainland occur frequently
February 26, 2021
The General Administration of Customs announced that since 2020, mainland customs have repeatedly detected quarantine pests such as the ocean rumped mealybug, the new pineapple gray mealybug, and the sarsaparilla black round shield fly from pineapples exported from the mainland in Taiwan. In order to prevent the risk of plant epidemics, in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and standards, it was decided to suspend the import of pineapples from Taiwan to the mainland from March 1.
September 18, 2021
The General Administration of Customs announced that since 2021, the mainland customs has repeatedly detected quarantine pests - the ocean rump whitefly from the soursse and lotus mist exported from the mainland from Taiwan. In order to prevent the risk of plant epidemics, in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations and standards of the mainland, it was decided to suspend the import of cherimoya and lotus mist from Taiwan to the mainland from September 20.
January 6, 2022
The General Administration of Customs issued a warning notice that Xiamen Customs detected the banned drugs hidden malachite green and hidden crystal purple from live groupers exported from the mainland in Taiwan, and suspended the acceptance of live fish declarations from Wang Zhiyi Farm and Dai Zhaozhong Farm in Taiwan from December 30, 2021.
June 10, 2022
The General Administration of Customs announced that since 2021, 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, in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations and standards of the mainland, it was decided to suspend the import of grouper from Taiwan to the mainland from June 13.
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Source: Information compiled by The Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao
Editor-in-Charge: Li Xin