They have also “organised” farmers to improve quality to guarantee safety, added Zhu, while the fruit must come from “registered” orchards and packagers.
Mainland Chinese officials have been cutting imports of Taiwanese fruits and seafood over the past two years, tracking a downward spiral in cross-strait relations.
Beijing views the self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway territory that must be reunited, by force if necessary. Following a visit by former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island in August, mainland China banned imports of some Taiwanese products.
The 15th Straits Forum kicked off in Xiamen on Saturday. Photo: Xinhua
Taitung county magistrate Rao asked mainland Chinese officials at the 15th Straits Forum over the weekend about resuming fruit imports, including sugar-apples and pineapples, said Joanna Lei, a former Taiwanese lawmaker who attended the event in Xiamen.
“She got a commitment saying they would be able to resolve this issue,” said Lei, who is also chief executive of the Chunghua 21st Century think tank in Taiwan.
Overall, she said, most participants at the forum “were hoping cooperation will continue”.
The county government has worked with a local university over the past two years to “improve the safety” of sugar-apples to meet mainland standards, a county spokesman said.
Any kind of dialogue is pretty important now, since we’re at a point of very strained cross-strait relation Chao Chien-min
The Straits Forum aims to promote deeper economic integration with Taiwan, and around 5,000 people are set to attend the 15th edition, which kicked off in Xiamen on Saturday.
President Xi Jinping sent a letter to the forum on Saturday saying that Beijing would “promote cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges”, the state-run China Daily said.
“Any kind of dialogue is pretty important now, since we’re at a point of very strained cross-strait relations,” said Chao Chien-min, dean of social sciences at the Chinese Cultural University in Taipei.
“People recognise now that the politicians can’t open a channel. This kind of people-to-people dialogue indicates that the mainland wants to show that things can be worked out in this way.”
South China Morning Post
