Taiwan threatens to take China to WTO in new spat over sugar apple and wax apple

Published 2021년 9월 19일

Tridge summary

Taiwan is prepared to take China to the World Trade Organization following China's decision to halt imports of sugar apples and wax apples from Taiwan due to pest concerns. Taiwan's government claims China has not provided proof of the alleged pest presence and argues that the announcement during the Mid-Autumn Festival is unfair. If China does not address the issue through their existing bilateral framework by Sept 30, Taiwan intends to initiate a dispute resolution process at the WTO. Additionally, Taiwan's government will allocate T$100 million to assist affected farmers and expand domestic sales and exports of these products to other markets. This incident marks the second time this year that China has halted fruit imports from Taiwan, following a pineapple ban in February.

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Original content

Taiwan threatened to take China to the World Trade Organization on Sunday after Beijing said it would suspend sugar apple and wax apple imports from the island on pest concerns, in the latest spat between the two over fruit. Relations between Taipei and Beijing, which claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, are at their lowest in decades, as China increases political and military pressure to get the island to accept its sovereignty, reports Reuters. China's customs administration said it had repeatedly detected pests called "Planococcus minor" in sugar apples, also known as sweetsops, and wax apples from Taiwan. It asked its Guangdong branch and all directly affiliated offices to stop customs clearance of those products from Monday. Taiwan's Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-Chung said China had behaved unilaterally without providing scientific evidence, and criticised the announcement for coming during the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated by ...

Source: The Financial Express