After Pineapples, It's Custard Apples & Wax Apples — China In New Spat With Taiwan Over Fruit Imports

Taiwan has threatened to take China to the World Trade Organization if the dispute is not resolved before September 30, a Reuters report said.

New Delhi: Months after it banned pineapple imports from Taiwan, citing pest issues, China has said it will also suspend imports of sugar apple and wax apple from the island over similar concerns.

This has triggered another spat between Taiwan and its long-time rival China over fruit, with the latter threatening to take Beijing to the World Trade Organization, news agency Reuters reported on Sunday.  

According to the report, the customs administration of China said it has repeatedly detected "Planococcus minor" pests in the sugar apples, also called custard apples, and wax apples that come from Taiwan, and asked its affiliated offices to stop customs clearance for these fruits from Monday.

Taiwan, however, said the decision is not acceptable. 

"We cannot accept this," Taiwan's Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung told reporters in Taipei, the Reuters report said.

Chen said China has behaved unilaterally "without providing scientific evidence".

Taiwan has decided to take China to the WTO for resolution of the dispute if the latter did not respond to its request to resolve the issue under existing bilateral framework before September 30, the report quoted Chen as saying.

'Is this a joke?'

China claims Taiwan as its own territory, and the relations between the two are strained to a great extent, with China said to be increasing political and military pressure to get Taipei to accept its sovereignty.

"Following a series of military threats, the #PRC is weaponizing trade by announcing an immediate ban on #Taiwan's custard & wax apples. This hostile move violates international trade norms! #China wants to join the high-standard  #CPTPP? Is this a joke?" Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeted on Sunday.

Taiwan is known for its custard apples and wax apples, besides mangoes. And this is the second time in 2021 that China has stopped imports of fruit from Taiwan.

China banned pineapple imports in February, saying "harmful creatures" could come with it and threaten its own agriculture. 

Accusing Beijing of playing politics, Taiwan had claimed there was nothing wrong with its pineapples. The country had then claimed it exported about 46,000 metric tonnes of pineapples the previous year, with more than 90 per cent of it to China, Reuters reported in February.