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Mainland Drops Taiwan Fruit Tax

Beijing announced yesterday it will drop import tariffs on 15 categories of Taiwan-grown fruit beginning on August 1, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The move to unilaterally implement the tax break, offered by the mainland in early May, came after Taipei refused to send envoys to private talks proposed by Beijing on July 31. An unidentified spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce said on July 31 that related mainland departments have made preparations for Taiwanese farmers to sell their produce on the mainland market as Taiwan begins its fruit harvest.

The 15 kinds of fruit qualified for tariff-free imports are pineapples, lychees, papayas, star fruit, mangos, guavas, wax apples, betel nuts, pomelos, jujubes, coconuts, loquats, plums, peaches and persimmons.

Customs will establish import procedures for the 15 types of fruit later, and quality supervision departments will take steps to aid the imports, said the spokesman. The commerce ministry urged Taiwanese administrations to help their fruit-growers solve any problems arising from implementation of the policy.

Beijing made the offer to scrap import tariffs on 15 varieties of Taiwan-grown fruit in May following the mainland visit of Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan. The policy was welcomed by Taiwanese farmers, who have been suffering poor sales during the harvest season because of limited market demand.

But Taiwan's so-called pro-"independence" Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has described the mainland policy as a "united front" strategy to woo Taiwanese farmers from the ruling party and rejected Beijing's proposal for private talks on the issue.

Chen Yunlin, minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said allowing the tariff-free entry of Taiwanese fruit was a concrete effort by the mainland to promote the fundamental interests of Taiwan compatriots.