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My Take | Chinese garlic, tomato paste and chilli peppers on sanctions menu

Season of goodwill sees no let-up in the ever-vigilant United States, with food sources from China identified as new threat to national security

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A farmer harvests garlic stalks in Datangzhen, Guangdong province, China. Photo: AFP
Alex Loin Toronto

It’s the season of good cheer. But given the terrible state the world is in today, it’s hard in all honesty to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I will pretend to anyway.

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The best I can come up with is to share some amusing news stories about the latest world-historical, globe-shaking rivalry between China and the United States. That’s thanks to alert reader David T for sharing.

The Pentagon is banning fresh and chilled Chinese garlic in US military commissaries because of national security. I swear I am not making this up.

That’s one of myriad provisions not strictly related to defence that have been sneaked into a crucial piece of legislation – the National Defence Authorisation Act – that makes sure military personnel get their pay and benefits on time.

In recent years, though, the legislative exercise is usually stuffed full of measures to compete with and counter China.

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It looks like the US military has taken the advice of Republican Senator Rick Scott to heart. About a year ago, the politician from Florida drafted two pieces of legislation called the Sewage Garlic Imports Act and the Sewage Garlic Imports Tariff Act. He claimed that “garlic is being grown in human sewage, then bleached and harvested in abhorrent conditions often with slave labour”.

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