Taipei, Beijing trade barbs over latest import bans as Taiwan plans WTO case

Thousands of Taiwanese food and drink products – from seafood to alcohol – have been blocked from mainland China

Taipei calls it unfair and another move to pressure the island, while Beijing says accusations are an act of ‘political manipulation’

Reading Time:3 minutes

Workers wrap custard apples at a processing facility in New Taipei City. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:00pm, 14 Dec 2022

Taipei and Beijing have traded accusations over mainland China’s latest import bans on Taiwanese food and drink products, with Taiwan saying it will take the case to the World Trade Organization.

At least 2,400 items are affected, ranging from seafood to alcohol and pastry products, and worth an estimated NT$7 billion (US$228 million), the self-ruled island’s government said early this week.

Beijing said Taiwanese suppliers had failed to correctly register the items for the Chinese mainland.

Tourists take photos at the Zhunan Brewery in Miaoli, owned by Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp, whose products are among those blocked by Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Taipei on Wednesday called the move unfair and arbitrary, and said it was the latest attempt to put pressure on the island – which Beijing claims as its own territory – and that it would go to the WTO to seek fair handling of the issue. Both sides are WTO members.

“While foreign companies are able to register online, Taiwanese firms must submit their registration in paper form,” Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan told reporters in Taipei.

He added that it was also optional for foreign companies to give formulas for their food products, while Taiwanese firms had to supply them.

Hsueh said that was unfair to Taiwanese companies and that mainland authorities had failed to give a reasonable response to queries from the health ministry as to why some applications had been rejected.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung told lawmakers that the mainland’s General Administration of Customs had not informed Taiwanese companies when their registration was not accepted, and they only found out by accessing its website.