The DPP authorities shot themselves in the foot

Chen Shiliang (Infographic)

The author, Chen Shiliang, is a special researcher at the Research Center for Cross-Strait Relations and secretary-general of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at East China Normal University

For a long time, because of the industrial complementarity of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the trade volume between the two sides has been rising since the two sides opened up personnel exchanges and carried out economic and trade exchanges and cooperation. The mainland has long become Taiwan's largest trading partner and the largest source of surplus, and Taiwan's dependence on the mainland has also been increasing, maintaining more than 40% in recent years. With regard to the mainland's long-term concessions in cross-strait trade, the DPP authorities not only completely accepted all the benefits they ordered, but also constantly erected obstacles to create trouble for economic and trade exchanges between the two sides. Recently, the DPP authorities have formulated and implemented relevant measures to ban the import of mainland products, involving as many as 2,455 products, which have aroused great concern from all walks of life on both sides of the strait.

In cross-strait trade, the mainland has long practiced measures to give benefits to the broad masses of the Taiwan people. In order to allow the Taiwan people and small and medium-sized enterprises to widely enjoy the "peace dividend" of the two sides of the strait, the mainland has long been in a state of inequality in cross-strait trade. For example, Taiwan's agricultural and fishery products can easily enter the mainland market, and some can enjoy green channels and even receive additional economic subsidies. It can be said that the sales are worry-free, and the income is not worrying. However, it is very difficult for many mainland goods to enter the Taiwan market, and even the DPP authorities have to make it difficult in every possible way. Among them, as many as 2,460 products imported into Taiwan from the mainland are prohibited, including chickens, ducks, geese, goats, cattle and other agricultural products (except for purebred breeding, they are prohibited from entering the island of Taiwan). Although this trade is unfair, in order to express its sincerity and goodwill, the mainland still chooses to cede profits to Taiwan compatriots.

In 2005, after Lien Chan visited the mainland as chairman of the Kuomintang, the mainland decided to reduce the tariff rate of 15 Taiwan's main fruits, including coconut, pineapple, guava, cherimoya and lotus fog, from 15% to 0. As a result, Taiwan's fruits have become more competitive in the mainland and their sales have increased greatly. But contrary to this, the Chen Shui-bian administration of the Democratic Progressive Party at the time drew up a list of more than 2,000 industrial and agricultural commodities banned from the mainland, on the grounds of protecting Taiwan's local industries and farmers. At the same time, the DPP authorities also listed 785 mainland commodities as conditionally allowed to be imported, adding very harsh conditions for product specifications and materials.

When the Kuomintang Ma Ying-jeou administration was in power in Taiwan, the two sides signed the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation (ECFA) in 2010. The duty-free portion further includes petrochemical, machinery, textiles and auto parts industries exported from Taiwan to Chinese mainland. However, it is still very difficult for mainland products to enter the Taiwan market, and mainland enterprises that want to invest in Taiwan are also subject to strict control. In the past decade or so, Taiwan's profits from the mainland have reached hundreds of billions of dollars. However, the DPP authorities did not reciprocate, but still adopted blockade measures against mainland goods.

The Ministry of Commerce announced that it was a matter of course to investigate Taiwan's erection of trade barriers to mainland products. Regarding the measures recently formulated and implemented by the DPP authorities to ban the import of 2,455 products from the mainland, the Ministry of Commerce recently announced an investigation into Taiwan's trade barriers against mainland products, totaling 2,455 products. As we know, trade barriers, also known as trade barriers, are various artificial restrictions imposed by one independent customs territory on the import of goods and services from another independent customs territory. The DPP authorities' approach has completely led to extreme inequality in cross-strait trade.

In 2006, when Taiwan's bananas were unsellable, the mainland urgently purchased 200 tons of slow-selling bananas from Taiwan, with a total value of 1.25 million yuan, effectively alleviating the sales difficulties of fruit farmers on the island. In 2011, Taiwan's banana harvest was bumper, and there was a slow-selling phenomenon again. Taiwan farmers communicated with the mainland through the Kuomintang, and the mainland once again "urgently purchased" Taiwanese bananas, the first batch of about 300 tons, effectively ensuring the price of bananas on the island of Taiwan. In July 2018, pineapples in Taiwan Province were unsold, and Huang Jianting, the mayor of Taitung County, went to Jiangsu, Fujian and other places in the mainland for help. Among them, Wuxi City "kindly purchased" a large number of Taiwanese pineapples at a price of NT$25 per kilogram, which was more than twice the purchase price on the island at that time. However, Taiwan has long erected trade barriers against the mainland. For example, Taiwan does not grow apples due to climate and other reasons, so it has always imported apples from all over the world, but not mainland apples. In the past two years, there has been an "egg shortage" in Taiwan, but the DPP authorities prefer to import eggs from Japan and even as far as Australia, that is, not eggs from the mainland. For this reason, the Ministry of Commerce has conducted a six-month investigation on trade barriers through the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Taiwan's restrictions on the export of 2,455 commodities to Taiwan, which not only safeguards the interests of mainland enterprises, but is also completely reasonable and legal. The WTO Delegation from Taiwan, China, has confirmed receipt of this notification.

When the DPP authorities shoot themselves in the foot, they are bound to suffer the consequences themselves. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, cross-strait trade volume in 2022 will be about US$319.6 billion, down 2.5% year-on-year. Among them, the mainland imported $238 billion from Taiwan, and the mainland exported only $81.5 billion to Taiwan, and Taiwan's annual trade surplus with the mainland was as high as $156.5 billion (even according to the statistics of the DPP authorities, the surplus exceeded $100 billion). The main reason for this situation is not that mainland products are not competitive in Taiwan, but that the DPP authorities deliberately set up obstacles so that mainland products cannot circulate to the Taiwan market. This trade is very unfair.

However, what is even more infuriating is that the huge trade surplus obtained by the DPP authorities from the mainland has not been used to improve the people's livelihood on the island, but has used a considerable part of the funds for collusion with foreign anti-China forces, and even purchased a large amount of US arms in an attempt to "resist reunification with force" and "seek independence with force." Since coming to power in 2016, the Tsai Ing-wen administration of the Democratic Progressive Party alone has purchased about NT$100 billion in weapons and equipment from the United States, causing extreme tension in cross-strait relations and a significant increase in the risk of war.

The current investigation of trade barriers through the World Trade Organization is an important measure taken by the mainland to counter the implementation of trade barriers by the DPP authorities. Such a move can not only change the situation of unfair trade between the two sides of the strait, but also effectively promote the harmonious development of cross-strait relations. Public opinion on the island holds that in the past two years, even according to the statistics of the DPP authorities, Taiwan's annual trade surplus from the mainland has exceeded $100 billion. Taiwan's annual trade surplus is $50 billion, and if it does not have a $100 billion surplus with the mainland, it will become a deficit of $50 billion, which has a very big impact. At present, the most anxious are the island's food and machinery manufacturers. Because for food processing industries, some items exported by Taiwan to the mainland in large quantities also involve eating habits, so if they are exported to the United States, Australia, or find other alternative markets, eating habits alone are not in line. Moreover, the mainland has benefited Taiwan compatriots in cross-strait trade, and many small and medium-sized enterprises have benefited from it. Once the mainland market is lost, the interests of the food and machinery operators on the island will inevitably be seriously affected.

We must realize that the mainland's willingness to cede benefits to the broad masses of the Taiwan people for a long time fully reflects the mainland's sincere goodwill to the Taiwan compatriots and its sincerity in helping Chinese Chinese. Here, we advise the DPP Tsai Ing-wen authorities to have a clear understanding of the overall trend, cherish the trend of peaceful development of cross-strait relations, earnestly pay attention to and care for the actual interests and well-being of the people on the island, actively promote equal cooperation in cross-strait trade, stop doing anything that hinders cross-strait economic and trade exchanges and cooperation, and still less should they use the mainland's trade surplus to buy weapons and equipment, and try to "resist reunification with force" and "seek independence with force."