The latest thorn in Taiwan-China tensions, pineapples

CHIAYI, Taiwan — For 24 years, plant scientist Kuang Ching-shan planted, then culled round after round of pineapple sprouts, hoping to develop a new cultivar of the tart fruit. In 2018, he finally hit the mark: a small, golden-yellow fruit with the luscious aroma of a mango. His euphoria soon turned into helplessness, however. Last year, Taiwanese authorities discovered the patented fruit he had developed was somehow being sold in China. "Do I care that China is planting my pineapples? It is hard to answer this question because my opinion cannot change anything," he tells NPR, sitting in his office in southern Taiwan, surrounded by plant cuttings and plates of fresh-cut pineapple. Taiwan's deputy agricultural minister, Chen Junne-jih, is more blunt, calling the case blatant "robbery" and accusing China of agricultural pilfering spanning decades. Taiwan rice variants, orchid blooms, tea bushes, soybean sprouts, and edible fungi all have mysteriously been transplanted in China from ...