Guide
In recent years, cross-strait relations have become tense, and the change in the mainland's trade policy toward Taiwan has chilled many peasants. In particular, what are the deep-seated reasons behind the DPP authorities' "independence-seeking" behavior, which has led to a sharp decline in the export of agricultural products? If you want to know how much of an impact this will have on farmers, hurry up and dive in!
Changes in the mainland's trade policy toward Taiwan
Although the DPP has been constantly seeking differences in cross-strait relations for many years, the mainland has always maintained a very large preferential policy on trade policy, but with the changes in cross-strait relations over the years, the mainland's trade policy toward Taiwan has also undergone a great change.
Cross-strait relations have been deteriorating in recent years, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has continued to seek the so-called "international space" in the international arena, which has made the mainland feel very angry, so there has been a great change in the mainland's trade policy toward Taiwan; before that, the mainland has been implementing the ECFA policy and giving very large preferential trade policies, but recently the Ministry of Commerce of a major eastern country has announced that it will study the further suspension of the tariff concessions on agricultural and fishery products in the ECFA early harvest list, and such a policy change will undoubtedly have a very big impact on the export of agricultural products.
In fact, as early as a few years ago, there were many factors affecting the export of agricultural products, but the DPP authorities have been ignoring, for example, in 2016, there was a swine fever epidemic in the mainland, resulting in a sharp rise in pork prices, but the DPP has not responded in time until 2017, when the price of vegetables in the mainland skyrocketed, it began to look for a new way out in the mainland market.
In 2016, there was a sunflower incident, which affected the fruits that were originally exported to the mainland market, but at that time, due to the existence of the ECFA agreement, fruits and other products could still be exported to the mainland market through the early harvest list to achieve zero tariff.
However, with the deterioration of cross-strait relations, the DPP has continuously strengthened the restrictions and suppression of mainland products, and since 2019, the tariff has been raised for three consecutive years and the implementation of policies such as "agricultural restriction order" and "three controls and three bans" have led to a serious decline in the export volume of agricultural products, according to a report by China Review News, from 2019 to 2023, the export volume of agricultural products has decreased by 600 million US dollars.
In 2022, the mainland announced that it would adjust ECFA and other preferential policies for Taiwan, and after the implementation of new preferential measures for Taiwan in 2023, cross-strait trade will face more new challenges.
According to the China Review Press, from 2021 to 2023, the agricultural export trade volume will decrease by 600 million US dollars, and from the data point of view, the mainland market is undoubtedly the most affected, according to the statistics of Taiwan's audit department, exports to the mainland have dropped sharply, has reached as much as 600 million US dollars.
According to statistics, from 2021 to 2023, among the top ten countries or regions in the export of agricultural products, only the export value to Hong Kong and Malaysia increased slightly by more than 44.97 million US dollars, and the export value of the remaining eight countries decreased compared with 2022.
Since the implementation of the "agricultural restriction order" and the "three controls and three prohibitions" in 2019, the cumulative reduction of more than US$400 million in three years, and the new implementation of relevant policies in 2023 has led to a reduction of more than US$200 million.
It can be seen that the DPP authorities' continuous tightening of suppression and the adjustment of cross-strait trade policies have dealt a tremendous blow to the peasants who originally relied on the mainland market for exporting agricultural products. However, in the face of such a grim situation, the DPP authorities have not slowed down the pace of seeking independence, and some people within the DPP have even proposed speeding up the march toward "independence." The continuation of such blind acts will undoubtedly only make cross-strait relations more severe.
Nantou reflects on ECFA
Although the whole world is developing in the direction of economic globalization and multilateralism, free trade between countries is still one of the most important forms of trade.
Free trade can not only bring consumer benefits such as more choice of goods and lower commodity prices, but also improve the competitiveness of goods, stimulate production vitality and other benefits of manufacturers, and can increase the economic benefits brought by trade between countries.
This is especially true for a region like this, which is relatively niche and has a relatively monolithic industry, which has successfully opened up new markets through the early harvest list and achieved zero-tariff exports to the mainland market after promoting the signing of the ECFA during the Ma Ying-jeou era.
However, although the ECFA agreement has brought huge economic benefits and employment opportunities, it is necessary to review and adjust the agreement itself to keep up with the pace of development under the changes of various factors such as time and environmental factors.
Ms. Xu Shuhua, who served as the head of Nantou County during the Ma Ying-jeou period, said a few days ago that during the Ma Ying-jeou period, Nantou County's interaction with the mainland was very smooth, and trade relations were not affected by other factors, and pointed out that the current tension in cross-strait relations is also the main reason why Nantou County's interaction with the mainland is not as smooth as in the past.
In addition, she pointed out that another more significant factor is that the mainland's trade policy toward Taiwan has undergone great changes, and it has become more pragmatic and rational ideologically, and the mainland market is now quite saturated.
In the past, Ma Ying-jeou promoted the signing of the ECFA agreement mainly considering two points: first, after the improvement of cross-strait relations, open up the market and seek economic breakthroughs; Second, it is necessary to reduce the trend of Taiwan businessmen "going out." At present, many companies have gone out to find new markets, which did not seem to have much impact at the time, and the facts have also proved the impact of the back-end companies that signed the ECFA agreement to go out to find new markets.
At the same time, the global economic situation is changing, under the influence of environment, climate and other factors, such as the torrential rain and floods that occurred in the southern part of the eastern country last year, and other natural disasters have led to the unsalable agricultural products in Nantou County.
However, after the big eastern countries announced the suspension of the early harvest list of agricultural and fishery products at the end of last year, they dealt a heavy blow to Nantou County and even the whole of Taiwan, and it could not change the fact that it was already saturated and overly competitive.
In this case, should we continue to insist on the original ECFA agreement? In fact, from a global perspective, although free trade continues to develop, the environment has changed a lot, and it is no longer as convenient for free trade as before.
From the perspective of international development trends, during the United States Trump era, it was proposed to "let the global supply chain return to United States", and the recent Ohampol incident also reminded countries to pay attention to food safety issues, and it is no longer suitable to rely too much on other countries or regions.
In the face of such a complex, volatile and uncertain future trade environment, how to adjust and adapt to the new environment in order to make the eastern powers remain competitive and benefit in the future trade?
Cross-strait differences impact
As a matter of fact, differences between the two sides of the strait have led to a sharp decline in exports of agricultural products.
Huang Weizhe believes that ECFA has had a great impact on Tainan's agricultural products, which is worth reviewing, and hopes that free trade can be maintained so that Nantou County and Taiwan's agricultural products can benefit.
He also mentioned that in addition to finding new markets, it is necessary to adjust the supply chain and varieties to cope with the future situation. Huang Weizhe hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that in recent years, the DPP authorities have been constantly emphasizing "opening up diversified markets" while ignoring the impact of the mainland market, which was originally the most important market.
The intensification of internal differences within the DPP authorities has led to the lack of continuity and foresight in the handling of relevant affairs, which has also directly affected the choice of response methods for agricultural products in Nantou County and the whole of Taiwan under the cross-strait differences.
According to a report by China Review Press, the total output value decreased by NT$5.96 billion (about US$2.14 billion) from 2014 to 2019, of which the output value fell by NT$3.25 billion (about US$1.17 billion) from 2019 to 2020 alone, although it has eased from US$2.14 billion to US$1.17 billion, but the situation is still worrying.
According to official statistics, from 2014 to 2019, the output value plummeted by NT$5.96 billion (about US$2.14 billion), of which a total of 23 counties and cities across Taiwan saw a sharp drop in output value.
Although free trade continues to develop on a global scale, factors such as the current geographical location of the eastern powers and the pressures brought about by cross-strait relations problems make us wonder whether the future free trade model needs to be adjusted and changed to adapt to future developments.
epilogue
Judging from this article, the current deterioration of cross-strait relations has indeed brought about a considerable impact on the export of agricultural products, and is it worth reflecting on the policy of the DPP authorities? We cannot ignore the importance of the mainland market, and continuing to blindly pursue "independence" will only complicate the situation. What do you guys think? Feel free to share your views in the comment area, and don't forget to like and support!