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the tariff commission of the state council recently issued an announcement that from september 25, 2024, the policy of exempting 34 agricultural products such as fresh fruits, vegetables, and aquatic products originating in taiwan from import tariffs will be discontinued, and the relevant agricultural product import tariffs will be implemented in accordance with the current relevant regulations. chen junji, head of the taiwan authorities' agricultural affairs department, claimed on the 19th that the overall impact of this incident on taiwan is limited, and "the risks are still within the controllable range." in this regard, zhao shaokang, former chairman of taiwan's "china broadcasting corporation", believes that in the face of the mainland's cancellation of tariff preferences for agricultural products, the taiwan authorities' agricultural department has no solution at all. he also criticized taiwan leader lai ching-te for deliberately ignoring the warnings from the other side after taking office. in the future, the mainland may increase sanctions against taiwan or cancel the preferences, and the unlucky ones are taiwanese businessmen and farmers.

chen junji said on the 19th that according to statistics from the taiwan authorities' agricultural authorities, 34 types of vegetables and fruits were exported to the mainland for about us$7.36 million so far last year, with tariff costs of about us$1.075 million. he also said that the overall assessment had limited impact and the risks were within controllable range.

zhao shaokang analyzed on facebook today that the increase of more than nt$30 million in tariffs per year is a small amount of money for the taiwan authorities' agricultural affairs department. after all, their budget for next year has allocated nt$140 million for media publicity alone. however, the increase of more than nt$30 million in costs is a huge amount of money for taiwan's farmers and fishermen. the economic output value of agriculture is low and cannot be compared with industrial products. however, agricultural issues are not just agricultural and economic issues, but even political issues. there are many people working in agriculture, and the increase in tariffs will hit the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen.

regarding the proportion of taiwan's agricultural products, taiwan executive yuan spokesperson lee hui-chih claimed that it has dropped from 23.2% in 2018 to 10.2% in 2023, especially the proportion of fruit sold to the mainland, which has dropped from 80.1% in 2019 to 6% in 2023. "everything is under control, and farmers will be guided to make the most appropriate adaptation." lee hui-chih also said that the mainland's actions "violate wto regulations" and called on the mainland to "use dialogue instead of confrontation to communicate pragmatically to resolve disputes."

zhao shaokang denounced that the taiwan authorities' agricultural affairs department responded with "limited and controllable losses", which was simply a waste of money. apart from consistently condemning the other side's "suppression" and spending money to subsidize farmers and fishermen, they have not come up with any solution, and the comment of "limited losses" is even more sarcastic.

zhao shaokang lamented that since taking office, taiwan leader lai ching-te has been ruthless towards the opposition party. although he is clearly a "double minority leader", he still does not communicate, cooperate or compromise with the opposition party. it is completely wishful thinking to expect lai to show goodwill to the other side.

zhao shaokang is worried that the withdrawal of tariff concessions on agricultural and fishery products may only be the beginning. will the mainland terminate the ecfa (cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement) in the future? will the relevant measures be expanded from agriculture to industry? regarding lai ching-te's deliberate disregard of the warnings from the other side, the mainland may gradually increase sanctions against taiwan or cancel the concessions in the future. zhao shaokang emphasized that the unlucky ones are taiwanese businessmen and farmers.

in response to this, the kmt also pointed out that since the dpp came to power, there has only been confrontation and hatred, no goodwill and communication, and a lack of sincerity in solving problems. it has also continuously undermined the existing political consensus, causing the deterioration of cross-strait relations and damaging the rights of grassroots farmers. the dpp authorities have never been able to positively and proactively propose feasible solutions, which can be said to be extremely irresponsible. the kmt emphasized that the kmt does not want to see such a good foundation completely lost, and will continue to promote cross-strait exchanges and cooperation.(lin jingxian, strait herald reporter in taiwan)