Taiwan urges China to lift fruit suspension at WTO committee meeting

Published 2021년 11월 4일

Tridge summary

Taiwan's representative at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has called on China to lift its ban on Taiwanese fruits, including wax apples and custard apples, following claims of pest contamination. Lo Chang-fa, the representative, refuted these claims, citing less than 0.3% of shipments as being affected. He argued that the fruits should be allowed to clear customs after fumigation, a practice adopted by many countries. The COA will continue to raise its concerns through either cross-strait communication or WTO mechanisms, and is anticipating a positive response from China.

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Original content

Brussels, Nov. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's envoy to the World Trade Organization (WTO) urged Beijing to revoke its decision to unilaterally suspend the import of several types of fruits from Taiwan at a WTO committee meeting on Wednesday. China suspended the import of Taiwanese wax apples and custard apples on Sep. 20, saying it had found mealybug Planococcus minor in several shipments from Taiwan this year. This followed a similar ban imposed by China on Taiwan's pineapples in February, also on pest concerns. At a meeting of the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Committee Wednesday, Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發), Taiwan's permanent representative to the WTO, rejected China's claims. Lo said less than 0.3 percent of imports of the two kinds of apples from Taiwan had been found at the Chinese border to have the bugs. Shortly after the Taiwanese authorities were notified of the pest problem by their Chinese counterparts, they stepped up measures to better monitor and quarantine fruit ...

Source: Focustaiwan