Chinese mainland consumers will soon see not only fruits but
also more vegetables and seafood from Taiwan in the supermarkets as
the central government gives island products greater access.
Beijing will remove tariffs from 18 categories of agricultural
products from Taiwan, Wang Xinpei, the spokesperson of the commerce
ministry, announced on Friday. The change takes effect on March
20.
The products covered include 11 varieties of vegetables and
eight varieties of seafood with simpler quarantine measures.
It marks a new move to strengthen the cross-Straits agricultural
exchanges and benefits Taiwan's farmers, Wang said.
"In order to achieve this goal, we have held consultations and
communications on the technical issues involved with
non-governmental organizations in Taiwan," he said.
Meanwhile, Beijing pledged to continue promoting the sale of
Taiwan food on the mainland.
The central government has adopted zero-tariff treatment on 15
categories of fruit from Taiwan since April 2005.
Such measures were taken despite disapproval of cross-Straits
agricultural exchanges from Taiwan's "pro-independence" Democratic
Progressive Party's administration.
Last year, six experimental zones for cross-Straits agricultural
exchanges were established in coastal provinces on the mainland and
at least four farms for Taiwan's farmers to boost two-way economic
ties.
The two kinds of exchanges had attracted some 4,500 agricultural
enterprises from Taiwan by the end of last October. Investment in
these areas hit US$5 billion, accounting for nearly 80 percent of
the total investment on the mainland made by
Taiwan's agricultural firms.
Boosted by such measures, the two-way trade exceeded US$100
billion for the first time in 2006. The mainland is now the largest
trade partner of Taiwan and Taiwan the seventh largest on the
mainland.
So far, mainland trade with Taiwan is largely concentrated in
the coastal regions. Eastern China provinces and municipalities
posted US$104.7 billion in trade with Taiwan last year, accounting
for more than 97 percent of the total.
(China Daily March 17, 2007)