China lifts kaoliang ban after meeting

Taipei Times ^

[FarCenter]

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it hopes Beijing will stop imposing nontariff trade barriers under the pretext of food safety, after the Kinmen County Government announced that China lifted its import ban on kaoliang liquor.

The Chinese General Administration of Customs issued a customs registration code for Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Inc (KKL, 金門酒廠), enabling the company to export its products to China from Saturday, the county said.

The company received the code after Kinmen County Commissioner Chen Fu-hai (陳福海) and county officials traveled to Xiamen, China, on Saturday to meet with Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Sung Tao (宋濤), it said.

Chinese customs halted imports of beer and distilled products from 11 of 28 Taiwanese suppliers, starting on Dec. 9 last year, including KKL, Taihu Brewing (台虎精釀), King Car Food Industrial Co (金車企業), Legend Brewery Co (傳奇酒業), Win Shan International Co (雲山酒廠) and state-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒公司).

In addition, shipments of 123 of 354 beverage items registered by Taiwanese exporters were also suspended.

The MAC said it viewed the Kinmen announcement positively, adding that it hopes China would stop imposing such barriers to trade.

After last month’s suspensions, the government, following WTO regulations and bilateral agreements, asked China to remove the nontariff trade barriers to protect the rights and interests of Taiwanese exporters, the MAC said.

Now that Chinese customs officials have approved KKL’s registration and resumed imports, hopefully normal trade across the Taiwan Strait could be restored, it said.

[Vigilanteman]

The Chicoms want to have it both ways. Taiwan is a part of China, yet we want to impose duties on imports from Taiwan, including Kinmen, an island only three miles off the mainland.