Source: World Wide Web
The General Administration of Customs issued a notice on the 18th that due to the detection of quarantine pests, the import of cherimoya and lotus mist from Taiwan will be suspended from September 20. After the news spread to the island, the pro-green media "Sanli News" quickly hyped up, and even used the sensational words "pineapple remake is coming again" in the headline. The media report also mentioned that according to the statistics of the "Committee of Agriculture", the proportion of lotus mist and soursop imported into the mainland last year was as high as 97% and 95% respectively, and if it is banned from being sold to the mainland, it may cause a lot of impact.
The General Administration of Customs issued a notice today saying that since the beginning of this year, the mainland customs has repeatedly detected quarantine pests from the Taiwan region to export soursches and lotus mist from the mainland - the Ocean Rump Mealybug Planoccus minor. In order to prevent the risk of plant epidemics, in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations and standards of the mainland, it has been decided to suspend the import of cherimoya and lotus mist from Taiwan to the mainland from September 20, 2021. Since September 20, all customs offices have suspended the acceptance of customs declarations for soursop and lotus mist in Taiwan, and promptly notified the relevant enterprises in their jurisdictions of the above situation.
"Sanli News" said that according to the statistics of the "Committee of Agriculture", Taiwan's lotus fog exported a total of 4942 tons last year, of which 4792 tons were sold to the mainland, accounting for nearly 97%, and the remaining 111 tons were sold to Hong Kong, 28 tons to Canada, 8 tons to Singapore, and another 1 ton to the Palau Islands and Macao. In the cherimoya part, last year's exports totaled about 14,284 tons, of which 13,588 tons were sold to the mainland, accounting for more than 95%, and the remaining 536 tons were sold to Hong Kong, 87 tons to Canada, 35 tons to Singapore, 23 tons to Malaysia, 7 tons to Indonesia, 5 tons to Macau, and 2 tons to Brunei.
Soursop (Source: Taiwan's "Central News Agency")
China Times News Network reported that some Taitung farmers said that if the cherimoya cannot be exported, they will have to drink the northwest wind.
In another report, the "Sanli News" quoted Wang Haoyu, a former Taoyuan city councilor from the Democratic Progressive Party, as saying that the mainland suddenly found a reason to immediately ban the import of cherimoya and lotus mist from Taiwan, because it is now the cherimoya season, which "has caused a lot of panic among the peasants in Taitung."
Many netizens on the island also paid attention to the news released by the General Administration of Customs, and some Facebook netizens left a message sarcastically saying, "The Taiwan army has new fruits to eat"; "The Taiwan army (vice food supply station) is ready." ”
"Taiwan can't live without the mainland, and it's still a black family all day, haha, don't earn it if you have a backbone!" Some netizens said.
Some netizens saw the data released by the "Committee on Agriculture" and said, "Tsai Ing-wen has been in power for 6 years, claiming that the new southbound has got rid of its dependence on Chinese mainland, but the data shows that Tsai Ing-wen is lying." "It turns out that it was the mainland that Guoyun has been helping Taiwanese farmers."
In addition, there is no shortage of netizens who joked, "This year, Lianwu does not know whether to dip soy sauce or mustard, or the 'government' collects a receipt and sends a box per person?" ”
The General Administration of Customs announced on February 26 this year that it would suspend the import of pineapple (pineapple) from Taiwan to the mainland from March 1. According to the notice of the General Administration of Customs, since 2020, the mainland customs has 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.
Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said in response to an inquiry on March 26 that this move is a normal biosecurity precautionary measure, scientific and reasonable, and in line with relevant laws, regulations and standards of the mainland. Despite this, the customs notice caused a fierce reaction on the island, and the DPP authorities quickly "politicized the operation" of the matter, declaring that the mainland was "casually looking for reasons to suppress Taiwan pineapples."
Zhang Xiaohan, a spokesman for Tsai Ing-wen's office, even claimed that the mainland's move was not a goodwill act, and the pass rate of pineapples sold to the mainland by Taiwan was as high as 99.79%. Zhang said that the Taiwan authorities will invest NT$1 billion to strengthen domestic and foreign sales, and Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Qingde will also take the lead in supporting Taiwan farmers. Tsai Ing-wen posted on Facebook at the time calling for "standing up farmers and eating pineapples together."
As for the reasons for the mainland's suspension of the import of pineapples from Taiwan, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, once stressed that the mainland customs have repeatedly intercepted quarantine pests from pineapples imported from the mainland from the Taiwan region. Once introduced, these pests pose a serious threat to agricultural production and ecological security on the mainland. In order to prevent the risk of plant epidemics from the source, the General Administration of Customs has made the above decision.
Liu Shiyang, an associate researcher at the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times reporter on 26 March that in recent years, the responsibility for the retrogression of cross-strait relations has entirely rested with the DPP authorities, and the various remarks made by DPP figures are nothing more than to push the responsibility for undermining cross-strait relations onto the mainland. Liu Shiyang said that the DPP authorities have put on a posture of showing concern for the Peasants in Taiwan, just to win votes, and the manipulation of politicizing the scientific issue will not be of any benefit to the ordinary people of Taiwan and will only worsen cross-strait relations.