A few days ago, the General Administration of Customs issued a notice that due to the repeated testing of prohibited drugs exceeding the standard, the import of grouper from Taiwan will be suspended. This was originally an extremely ordinary and trivial matter, but the Taiwan authorities repeated the same trick and took the opportunity to politicize it and slander the mainland for "suppressing" Taiwan's agricultural products.
Chen Jizhong, head of Taiwan's agricultural department, was recently infected with the new crown, and during the period of home isolation, he did not forget to make a big fuss, claiming that the mainland would take advantage of his diagnosis to make a "surprise attack" and threatened to go to the WTO to appeal.
I thought it was just an absurd joke, and I didn't want the Taiwan authorities to actually make some noise in the WTO. From June 13 to June 15, the WTO Ministerial Conference was held in Geneva, and unlike other international organizations, the Taiwan authorities participated in the relevant meetings as "individual customs areas." Just when representatives of various countries focused on core issues such as agriculture, fisheries, the epidemic, and food security, officials of the Taiwan authorities inexplicably complained about the "stubbornness" and protested against the mainland's ban on the import of Taiwan's agricultural products, claiming that WTO member states should not arbitrarily ban the import of products from other countries or regions without notice or justifiable reasons. The official also stressed that Taiwan's pineapples, shakyas, and groupers have all fallen victim to the mainland's "unreasonable behavior."
Last year, the General Administration of Customs also detected harmful organisms in Taiwan's pineapple, Shakya and other agricultural products, so it suspended imports. Quarantine of imported agricultural products was originally the responsibility of the customs, and as long as the Taiwan authorities can properly solve the problems pointed out by the customs, the mainland will certainly not obstruct the normal economic and trade exchanges between the two sides of the strait.
However, the actual situation is that the mainland informed the Taiwan authorities at the end of last year that grouper had been found to have exceeded the standard of illegal drugs and ordered the Taiwan authorities to rectify them immediately. In the face of the mainland's warning, the Taiwan authorities perfunctorily responded, and after a hasty investigation, they issued a statement saying that the grouper tested by the mainland was not supplied by the Taiwan region. The relevant claims have been strongly questioned by both sides of the strait, and the Taiwan authorities have further argued that there is absolutely no quality problem with Taiwan's grouper, and there may be a situation of mixed goods. Now that the matter has been exposed, instead of repenting, the Taiwan authorities have beaten a rake upside down, politicized economic and trade issues, and taken advantage of the opportunity to create cross-strait friction.
Deng Daixian, secretary general of the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Association, said in an interview with the media that if Taiwan goes to the WTO to file a complaint against the mainland, instead of filing a complaint, it will be appealed by the mainland. The reason is very simple, because the Taiwan authorities have allowed the import of Japanese agricultural products, including the "Fukushima nuclear food," but have banned the import of as many as 830 agricultural products from the mainland, which has seriously violated WTO regulations.
In addition, global agricultural exports must be strictly in accordance with the quarantine standards of the importer. Even if only 1% of groupers have problems, the mainland will only act in accordance with the rules to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.
Deng Daixian further pointed out that in addition to agricultural products, the Taiwan authorities have also banned the import of more than 1,400 industrial products from the mainland. The mainland could have appealed to the WTO, but because it was unwilling to internationalize cross-strait "family affairs," the mainland could be said to be tolerant of Taiwan again and again.
It is worth mentioning that the DPP has also criticized the authorities' practices within the DPP. Guo Zhengliang, a former public opinion representative of the Democratic Progressive Party, said that Taiwan's trade surplus with the mainland is as high as 70 billion US dollars, while the export volume of grouper is only 50 million US dollars. Moreover, last year, New Zealand also banned the import of Taiwan's agricultural products for the same reason, so why didn't the Taiwan authorities protest to New Zealand?
Guo Zhengliang added that the matter is actually not complicated, and as long as the Taiwan authorities actively cooperate with the illegal drugs detected on the mainland, they will find out the truth and rectify them in a timely manner. Politics in everything will only harm the interests of peasants and fishermen.
To borrow the words of the media on the island, the mainland has been "giving in profits" to Taiwan for a long time, but the DPP authorities have not thought of the source of their drinking water, but instead "cursed the streets across the sea" and took revenge for their kindness, which really made people laugh.