How China uses fruit to punish Taiwan
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Published 2022-04-01
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In September 2021, China banned the import of sugar apples, or atemoya, from Taiwan, claiming they were bringing in pests. Critics say pests are an excuse, and China is weaponizing trade with Taiwan. And this isn’t the first time. In February of 2021, China banned the import of Taiwanese pineapples, causing a backlog and threatening farmers' livelihoods across the country.
The current situation is tied to a complex history that goes back to the Chinese civil war, and to recent tensions that go back to 2016, when Taiwan elected a new president. Since then, Chinese military incursions into Taiwan’s air space have been on the rise, and the relation between the two has kept deteriorating. Fruit is the latest expression of this.
To understand how this atemoya ban impacts farmers in Taiwan, and how it all ties together, watch our video.
Sources and further reading:
You can check out the data on Taiwan’s fruit exports here:
www.producereport.com/article/2019-taiwan-fruit-im…
To read more about the pineapple campaign and how it played out, check this out:
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-05/china-s…
To read the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services, click here:
www.mac.gov.tw/public/Data/3859414471.pdf
To understand the Sunflower Movement in more depth, read this:
carnegieendowment.org/2018/08/02/activist-legacy-o…
For a deeper look at China’s military incursions, check this out:
www.cnn.com/2021/10/15/asia/taiwan-invasion-us-chi…
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All Comments (21)
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If anything we learned from our supply lines during covid, don’t rely entirely on one country for anything
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This reminds me of when Russia banned Polish apples. There was a big campaign in the media to eat more apples and drink more cider. I must say, I contributed enormously, mostly to the second part.
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Fun fact: Since the fruit war happened a few months before the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021, the Japan's Olympic Committee imported tons of Taiwanese bananas and pineapples. Also, many Japanese bought Taiwanese pineapples as a way to return the help they received from the Taiwanese during the 2011 earthquake.
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There are millions of fruits that would blow all of our minds that only locals in the places where they tend to grow will know about. It's a shame that fruits like Atemoyas are completely unavailable in many parts of the world.
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I really appreciate you mentioning the Freedom Pineapple campaign, especially both the positive and negative impacts. Most news in Taiwan only mention how Taiwan "won" against the Chinese ban. But the truth is that the farmers who worked the hardest were not really compensated.
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1:45 The Nationalists didn't create the name "Republic of China" after relocating the capital to Taipei in 1949. The name "Republic of China" has been in use since 1912.
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This fruit just disappeared in Cameroon all of a sudden for years now and it's incredibly amazing fruit
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Atemoya tastes incredible. Planted 2 trees this year. Really interesting to see it in the middle of this issue.
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The Philippines had a similar story during the Scarborough Shoal standoff in 2012. China banned banana exports from the country after that incident and almost had the entire industry brought into its knees.
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Isn’t it incredible how we can literally politicize ANYTHING for power? Even fruit 🤦🏽‍♀️
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Thankfully, the Taiwanese economy is not entirely dependent on primary goods like fruits to run, and there are very advanced industries like the semiconductors, computers and other technologies. Taiwan should focus on these more and they can be like Japan and Korea.
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Reminds me of the Anglo-Irish Trade War of the 20s and 30s. The small and newly independent Ireland was locked in a bitter conflict over agricultural goods with the UK. It was a different dynamic however, as we were both the main importer/exporter for each other. Geopolitics, economics and history make a dangerous combination. Long live Taiwan, nonetheless, from one small island to another!
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Funny enough Hawaii was made a state in a very similar fashion by removing sugar tarrifs for their pineapples and then as they grew their production we started to apply tarrifs until it broke them economically and they became a part of the US.
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I haven't tried Taiwanese mangoes yet. Their main variety is the 'Irwin' with an attractive red color and as sweet as the Japanese ones. Wish they'll export some to Southeast Asia particularly the Philippines. Our mango season is from April to June, while Taiwan's is from June to August. We could enjoy Taiwanese mangoes when ours are already out of season and vice versa for Taiwan.
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China only call for fair trade when it is advantageous to them. Taiwanese fruits, Australian wine, Kpop, Hollywood movies, US tech and tons of other examples.
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We as vietnamese people face this problem too. Even though it seems less harsh than taiwan. But it happens constaintly. We. As farmers are forced to switch fruits to export to china. And china keeps banning this banning that
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In the 80s, U.S.A banned chilean grapes to punish the dictatorship that ruled Chile. Then, the dictator decided to distribute the grapes in all public schools. That year we ate a lot of grapes.
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China did the same thing to Australia, banning lobster, wine, barley etc.
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I had atemoya on a bicycle ride around Taiwan I think back in 2009 or so. They were incredible. It was eating a fruit custard. I don't think you can get them very easily in the US. I see some sites offering a 9 pound box for almost $200 for fruit grown in Florida. (The fruit, which is a hybrid, was developed in Florida.)
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I'm not sure if that is a fair statement, cause both Japan and Australia found insects during border inspection. And Taiwanese media downplayed the whole thing.
