Last Friday, China's General Administration of Customs announced the suspension of pineapple imports from Taiwan region starting from March 1. The mainland's customs has intercepted quarantine pests among pineapples from the island region since 2020, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Ma Xiaoguang said on Friday.
Ma said the decision was a normal biosafety precaution in line with China's laws, regulations and standards.
Taiwan urges people to eat more pineapples after China ban
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called on people to eat more pineapples to help farmers on Friday, saying Taiwan had been “ambushed” by a ban on the fruit by neighbouring long-time rival China which claims the island as its own.
According to an article on reuters.com¸ China said on Friday that starting in March it would suspend imports of pineapples from sub-tropical Taiwan, citing “harmful creatures” it said could come with the fruit, threatening China’s own agriculture. The move prompted condemnation from Taiwan’s ruling party and Tsai said in a Facebook post that the island’s agricultural exports in effect did meet international standards.
Experts claim China’s pineapple ban is not surprising
China’s ban on Taiwanese pineapples was “unsurprising,” and Taiwan should have years ago altered its produce export strategies and target customers, experts say. The suspension of pineapples from Taiwan, allegedly is due to the discovery “harmful biological entities” on the fruit, on multiple occasions.
Taipeitimes.com reports that, while calling it an “unfriendly” move, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said that 99.79 percent of the pineapples sent to China since last year have met China’s import standards.
High-speed rail line to promote Chinese pineapples
China has launched a pineapple themed high-speed rail line to promote pineapples produced in Xuwen, South China's Guangdong province. Local growers already witnessed a surge of sales over the weekend, after pineapples from the island of Taiwan were banned by the Chinese mainland.
The express line links several cities across China, including Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong, and major pineapple markets including Beijing, Shanghai and Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu Province as part of Xuwen's marketing campaign.
Source: news.cgtn.com
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
