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Oct. 5, 2022, 11:35 p.m.
The farmers caught up in Taiwan's tensions with China
The farmers caught up in Taiwan's tensions with China
['Taiwan', 'China', 'ban', 'pomelo', 'farm']

Taiwanese fruit growers are unable to sell their crop after Beijing banned their importation.

The farmers caught up in Taiwan's tensions with China

The pomelos were due to be picked ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was celebrated in Taiwan and on mainland China this year on 10 September. The background to this is that, while self-ruled Taiwan sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own democratically-elected government, Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province that will eventually be under its control. China is far and away Taiwan's biggest trading partner, and last year was the destination for 42% of Taiwanese exports, compared to the 15% that went to the US. In the opposite direction, 22% of Taiwan's imports come from China, with only 10% from the US. Much of Taiwan's trade with China is concentrated around Taiwan's electronics and semiconductor industry, which is deeply intertwined with China's tech industry, but DBS Bank economist Ma Tieying says farmers and food companies are particularly exposed to import bans. Separately, China has since 2019 banned people from going to Taiwan on holiday. "Going forward, whether Beijing will roll out more restriction measures need to be closely watched," says Ms Ma. "There is the risk for Beijing to expand import bans to some low-end Taiwanese manufacturing goods such as footwear and wood. In these sectors, Taiwan has high reliance on China for export sales, while China has low reliance on Taiwan for import supply." Christina Lai, a junior research fellow at the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top research institution, says that Taiwanese farmers are looking for new buyers in Japan, Australia and the Middle East, but that this will take time. Other analysts have started to worry that China might try to blockade Taiwan in the future, as relations between the two sides fall to some of their lowest points in 25 years.

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