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China bans Taiwanese pineapples over biosafety fears
- Mainland says it found plant pests on multiple batches of the imported crop
- Taipei says the action violates trade rules and it will earmark money to promote the product
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Mainland China has banned imports of pineapples from Taiwan from Monday, citing concerns about plant pests as tensions rise across the Taiwan Strait over politics, trade and coronavirus vaccine supply.
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Officials in Beijing said the ban was a “normal biosafety measure” but Taipei said the decision violated global trade rules and it would spend NT$1 billion (US$36 million) to help its pineapple farmers, who account for about 40 per cent of the island’s fruit sales to the mainland.
The ban comes just weeks after the mainland barred imports of meat products from Taiwan to prevent the spread of bird flu and the consumption of meat with animal feed additive ractopamine.
Relations between Beijing and Taipei have plunged since the island’s pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.
The tensions worsened as the Trump administration forged stronger ties with Taipei, including increasing high-profile naval missions through the sensitive strait.
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Beijing responded by ramping up military flights around the island, which the mainland considers a breakaway province.
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