After China stopped more Taiwanese imports on Sunday, Taiwan’s premier charged that China was discriminating against the island and breaking international trade laws.
Chinese customs officials “suddenly halted” imports of several alcoholic beverages from the island on Friday, according to Taiwan’s finance ministry.
It said that the action was in response to a rule Beijing implemented on January 1 requiring all exporters of food and alcoholic beverages to the Chinese mainland to register with Chinese customs. Some Taiwanese businesses were still being examined.
Beijing was charged with breaking World Trade Organization (WTO) laws by “creating its own rules” and “meddling in trade through administrative means,” according to Premier Su Tseng-chang.
China “is particularly harsh on Taiwan and particularly prejudices Taiwan… He informed reporters on Sunday that Taiwan had been ordered to carry out this and that.
Taiwan intends to file a WTO complaint and will support the impacted companies, he stressed.
Beijing asserts that Taiwan is a portion of its territory that will one day be seized, possibly through force.
Since President Tsai Ing-election wen’s in 2016, it has increased military, diplomatic, and economic pressure on the island. In the past, as relations deteriorated, it has banned the import of other products from the island.
Using the hashtag “FreedomBeer,” Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu tweeted on Sunday, “Heard that the #PRC is banning several products from #Taiwan again, including our beer.”
“Of course, economic compulsion. But they are unaware of what they are missing: the wonderful flavor of freedom.
In retaliation for US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August, which sparked a heated response from Beijing and a flurry of military drills, China imposed further bans on some fruit and seafood shipments.
When the annual harvest was in full swing the previous year, pineapple imports were stopped after Chinese authorities claimed to have found pests in shipments.
Approximately 2,400 registration requests from food, food processing, fishing, and alcohol enterprises, according to Taiwanese regulators, were incomplete. Around
Eleven of the 28 beer and distillery products registered by Taiwanese exporters were reportedly suspended as of Friday, citing Chinese customs, according to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency.
One of the impacted businesses is the government-run Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corp.
According to the report, shipments of 123 out of 354 more beverage products have also been stopped, including those from Taiwanese food behemoth Uni-President Enterprises.
According to official statistics, Taiwan sold drinks worth $250 million and alcoholic items worth $43.4 million to China in 2017.
