‘This is a big headache’: Beijing’s sanctions squeeze Taiwanese farmers

Citrus and mackerel are the latest targets of the import bans, but mainland China has steered clear of blocking Taiwan’s most crucial goods such as semiconductors

The mainland remains the island’s largest trading partner, but Taipei is pushing to diversify and increase trade with the rest of Asia

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Hans Chen poses at his fish farm in Taiwan’s Pingtung county on July 9. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:45pm, 26 Aug 2022Updated: 4:41pm, 26 Aug 2022

As a Taiwanese fighter jet screamed over the lush green fields of eastern Hualien county last week, pomelo farmer Mulin Ou sat in his orchard counting the cost of Beijing’s latest push to squeeze the island.

Cross-strait tensions have risen to their highest level in decades as Beijing rages over a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month.

Beijing launched drills in response, sending missiles into waters around the island – and it torpedoed exports of certain fruit and fish products to mainland China with fresh import bans.

The overall impact of Beijing’s latest economic sanctions is limited. But producers like Ou are paying a painful price.

“Our mainland orders have all been cancelled. Our pomelos have no way of getting there,” he said.

His farm in Hualien’s Ruisui township has dispatched about 180,000kg (397,000lbs) of the citrus fruit to the mainland every year for several decades.

“The clients are waiting for the pomelos, but there’s nothing we can do, it’s a political problem,” he said.