China and Taiwan Are Arguing Again – This Time over Fruit
China and Taiwan are at odds once again, but this time it's over fruit. Taiwan has been attempting to address the problem but has made little progress since China has ignored nine Taiwanese attempts so far. Come read our article to learn more.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have dominated the news lately. Despite the fact that tensions appear to have eased a little, there are still a slew of disagreements between the two. One of these disagreements concerns fruit.
Fruit Spat Hints at Bitter Dispute
China has halted imports of sugar and wax apples from Taiwan since September 20th, citing pest concerns. However, it appears that China has not been interested in settling the issue. While the import of apples may seem unimportant on the surface, considering that China accounts for 90% of the export market for these Taiwanese fruits, it does hold quite a significance.
This illustrates the close economic and business, not to mention cultural, ties between these two nations, even at times when politically their relationship is extremely antagonistic. Taiwan has apparently put in nine requests to resolve the issue since February, which have all seemingly been ignored. Taiwan has thus threatened to take their dispute with China to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Long-Term and Short-Term Problems
China claims Taiwan as part of their territory, even though Taiwan operates entirely independently with its own democratically elected government. No country on earth recognizes both nations, with the number of countries recognizing the Republic of China becoming increasingly small. At the time of writing, only 15 sovereign states recognize the Republic of China and thus do not have formal relations with the People’s Republic of China. That’s the long-term dispute between the two, while lately their dispute has centered around the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has criticized China for weaponizing trade and has described its bid to join the CPTPP as a “joke.” The Taiwanese Council of Agriculture Minister, Chen Chi-Chung, has accused China of behaving unilaterally and that it has not provided scientific evidence for the supposed pest problem concerning the fruit. He went on to criticize the statement for being made during the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a major Chinese and Taiwanese holiday.
Benefit from Export Portal
Even if the apple dispute were to be resolved tomorrow, issues between China and Taiwan show no signs of abating. Political conflicts can really hurt small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in international trade. Export Portal can help SMEs identify relatively safe markets and diversify their markets to protect their bottom line from suffering too much from political strife. Join us today!
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