China suspends imports of mangos from Taiwan in August 2023 

Context

On August 21, 2023, China announced a measure suspending imports of mangoes from Taiwan. China claimed that the suspension of mango imports from Taiwan was due to the identification of a standards problem related to pests – passionvine mealybug – found in the fruit. Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office stated that “[t]he… measures are normal bio-safety precautions, scientific and reasonable, and comply with relevant mainland laws, regulations and standards.” 

Shortly afterwards, Taiwan announced that it was deeply disappointed by China’s decision. It highlighted that they had never received any reports from other countries regarding the detection of pests. It was also emphasised that the measures were not in accordance with standard sanitary and phytosanitary procedures, and further that the timing of the suspension pointed to the measure being part of a “Chinese pressure campaign.” The measure coincided with a visit to the US by Taiwan’s vice president, William Lai, a week earlier – which angered Beijing. Taipei also claimed that the incident was part of a pattern of import restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural products into China, similar to previous restrictions on grouper fish, pineapples, wax apples and sugar apples, that collectively reflect a worsening of cross-strait political relations. 

Other commentators suggested that Taiwan’s agriculture sector may have been targeted because it is associated with areas of Taiwan which have strong voting links to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is viewed as more sceptical of ties with Beijing. According to Taiwan’s then Minister of Agriculture, after the election of (China-sceptic) DPP President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, Taiwan actively sought to diversify agricultural export markets to avoid overreliance on any single market.

Impact

Analysis of data from Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture shows that in 2023 Taiwan produced 176,000 metric tons of mangoes – of which 97.8% are sold domestically and only 2.2% are exported (only 0.05% of total production went to China). Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture stated that only 938 metric tonnes of mango was exported to China in 2023 (0.05%). According to one Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson, Taiwan’s active diversification of its mango exports meant that there would be little harmful economic impact as a result of the measure.

Responses

(i) Taiwanese Industry 

Wang Yu-wei, a mango farmer in Taiwan’s Pingtung county, told press that “We’re already having difficulty producing enough mangoes to meet domestic demand, let alone worry about exports.”

(ii) Taiwanese Government

Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture implied that this was politically motivated, by noting that no other states that imported Taiwan’s mangoes had raised any concerns over their quality. It also accused China of having “repeatedly violated international practices and arbitrarily interrupted trade without scientific dialogue”. Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture also claimed that it would refer the case to the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Committee‘s Specific Trade Concerns (STC) Mechanism. At the same time, it called for dialogue to establish a “reasonable solution”.

(iii) Other parties

A New York business responded by deciding to help Taiwan diversify its mango exports by importing dried mango – funded by a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and backed by many in the Taiwanese-American community. Subsequently, there appear to have been discussions around the export of Taiwanese mangoes to the US resuming within “one or two years”, attempting to overcome issues around the distance and ripening  time of Taiwanese mangoes.

Status

This dispute is ongoing and has been raised six times in the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Committee, most recently in June 2024.

References & Further Information

AFP News. 2023. “Taiwan Slams China’s Ban On Mango Imports.” Barron’s. August 21. Available at: https://www.barrons.com/news/taiwan-slams-china-s-ban-on-mango-imports-6ccb8180

Cai, D. and Wingfield-Hayes, R. 2023. “Taiwan VP a ‘troublemaker’ for US visit: Beijing.” BBC News. August 14. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-66495368

Chen, K. 2023. “Chinese ban on Taiwan mangoes to have limited impact: DPP legislator.” Taiwan News. August 22. Available at: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/ news/4977822

Ministry of Agriculture of Taiwan. 2023. ‘Mainland China unilaterally suspended imports of Taiwan mangos; the Ministry of Agriculture will take certain actions to protect the interests of Taiwan farmers’ [中国大陆片面宣布暂停台湾芒果输入; 农业部采取具体措施捍卫农民收益]. 21 August. Available at: https://www.moa.gov.tw/theme_data.php?theme=news&sub_theme=agri&id=9128.

Patton, D. and Blanchard, B. 2023. “China targets Taiwanese mangoes in latest import suspension.” Reuters. August 21. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/ china-targets-taiwanese-mangoes-in-latest-import-suspension-idUSKBN2ZW0FT/

Reuters. 2023. “China bans Taiwanese mangoes, cites pests; Taipei claims politics.” The Straits Times. August 21. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/china-bans-taiwanese-mangoes-cites-pests-taipei-claims-politics

South China Morning Post. 2023. “Mainland China bans Taiwanese mangoes in latest trade barb, Taipei hits out at ‘one-sided’ act.” Yahoo! Finance. August 21. Available at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mainland-china-bans-taiwanese-mangoes-093000914.html guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFKPiaCCh6qz8tRPC6BcwXBLm1SPriHGSJjpXPObj0JSzepJsBAwxlu-KjZwj4Oa2cRDEACD-Q80ynqYVn9Z0g4LeBp15IVmLADUg_XiXH96jBca8ZTuFT-z1p1nkoXiudEuLQxE8QHaCKZ92kEU1BtmOE6TIaKleF_-Zqbrv-90

Strong, M. 2024. “Taiwan mango exports to US to resume within 1-2 years.” Taiwan News. May 28. Available at: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5878316

Taipei Times. 2023. “Taipei to take PRC mango ban to WTO.” Taipei Times. August 22. Available at: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2023/08/ 22/2003805095

The News Lens. 2023. “Taiwan Shows Resilience Despite China’s Import Ban on Mangoes.” Fresh Plaza. August 25. Available at: https://www.freshplaza.com/asia/ article/9554559/taiwan-resilient-in-the-face-of-chinese-import-ban-on-mangoes/ and at: https://international.thenewslens.com/article/186495

Yee, Y.W. 2023. “‘We’re more resilient’: China’s sudden ban on Taiwan’s prized mangoes has limited impact.” The Straits Times. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/ east-asia/we-re-more-resilient-china-s-sudden-ban-on-taiwan-s-prized-mangoes-has-limited-impact?utm_source=pocket_saves