Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung says China’s imposition of a ban on Taiwanese pineapple imports will eventually backfire. Chen was speaking Thursday in an interview.
In an unexpected announcement last Friday, China’s General Administration of Customs said it would suspend imports of Taiwanese pineapples, citing insects as the reason. The ban took effect on March 1.
Chen said the government got caught off guard because China did not impose a ban last year when some Taiwanese pineapples were found to contain insects.
Chen said if China continues using trade as a political tool, as it has recently with Australian red wine and lobsters, it will face consequences as countries committed to free trade will stand in unity and strike back.
China’s National People’s Congress, a rubber-stamp body, is set to open in Beijing on Friday. It is believed that the import ban is a politically-motivated move before its biggest political meeting this year.