China Hits Taiwan With New Import Bans
China announced a series of new import bans on Taiwanese products late last week, primarily seafood and beverages, in what appears to be the mainland’s latest effort at applying economic pressure.
China announced a series of new import bans on Taiwanese products late last week, primarily seafood and beverages, in what appears to be the mainland’s latest effort at applying economic pressure.
The Tsai Ing-wen administration surprised last week with the announcement that it intended to open Taiwan up to beef and pork imports from the United States. This move is clearly aimed at removing one of the major political hurdles to a bilateral trade agreement with Washington, which had made this a precondition for a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan for well over a decade.
An ongoing corruption probe into a group of pan-Green and pan-Blue politicians accused of taking bribes in a case related to the ownership of the Pacific Sogo department store chain has the potential to be a major scandal faced by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and for the Tsai Ing-wen administration.