Taiwan premier slams China over fresh import bans

Taipei - Taiwan’s premier on Sunday accused China of violating international trade rules and “discriminating” against the island after it halted more Taiwanese imports.

According to Taiwan’s Finance Ministry, Chinese Customs authorities “suddenly suspended” imports of certain alcoholic beverages from the island last Friday.

It said the move was related to a regulation Beijing imposed on Jan 1 that requires all food and alcoholic beverage exporters to the mainland to be registered with Chinese Customs. Some Taiwanese companies had still been under review.

Premier Su Tseng-chang accused Beijing of violating World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms by “making its own rules” and “meddling in trade through administrative means”.

China “is especially tough on Taiwan and especially discriminates against Taiwan... They’ve asked Taiwan to do this and do that”, he told reporters.

Taiwan plans to appeal to the WTO

and will assist the affected businesses, he added.

Beijing claims self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunited one day, by force if necessary.

It has ramped up military,

diplomatic and economic pressure on the island since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, and

previously banned imports of other products

from the island as relations deteriorated.

“Heard that the #PRC is banning some products from #Taiwan again, including our beer,” Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeted on Sunday, referring to the People’s Republic of China, and using the hashtag “FreedomBeer”. “Economic coercion of course. But they don’t know what they’re missing: the great taste of freedom.”

China slapped fresh bans on certain fruit and fish imports in retaliation for

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei

in August. The visit sparked a furious response from Beijing and a flurry of military drills.

A year earlier, pineapple imports were halted after the Chinese authorities claimed to have discovered pests in shipments, just as the annual harvest was under way.

According to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency, 11 out of 28 beer and distillery products registered by Taiwanese exporters had been suspended from last Friday, citing Chinese Customs.

The affected companies include state-run Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corp.

Shipments of 123 out of 354 other beverage items have also been halted, including those from Taiwanese food giant Uni-President Enterprises, the report said. AFP