More than 10 kinds of fruit from Taiwan were on show at a Taiwan fruit exhibition in Beijing recently. They include java apple, papayas, coconut, P.guajava, lichee, carambola, papaw, banana, pineapple, mango, lemon and Hami melon. On April 13 the Taiwan Elegant Fruit Show was held in Jade Palace Hotel in Beijing and visitors to the show tasted various kinds of fruit from the island. The show attracted a lot of reporters and fruit traders from overseas. Why does the fruit from the island have such an attraction? As a matter of fact all this is attributed to the agricultural issue across the Taiwan Straits.

Strong lineup comes to Beijing for promotion

Recently the mainland has put forward a proposal to strengthen agricultural cooperation across the Straits and to expand the sales of the agricultural products from Taiwan on the mainland, aiming for dealing with the difficulties in Taiwan agricultural production and the sales of the agricultural products produced by Taiwan farmers, which is actively welcomed by people of insight and the broad farmers from the island. They are in the hope that the non-governmental organizations on both sides of the Straits will hold negotiations, reach consensus and make arrangement as soon as possible. At present the relevant departments on the mainland are planning to simplify quarantine, transport and distribution procedures to make it easier for Taiwan farmers to sell fruit on the mainland. Hence the issue on across-the-Straits agricultural exchanges has caught the attention of people recently.

The Straits Economic Cooperation Center and the Economic and Trade Coordination Committee for the Two Sides of the Straits on the mainland together with Taiwan Province Fruit & Vegetable Business Association and Taiwan Qing Guo International Co Ltd in Taiwan as well as Taiwan-funded enterprise Beijing Chunlin Agricultural Product Co Ltd have jointly sponsored the press conference for the exhibition, which will not only help the people on the mainland know the elegant fruit from Taiwan, but also play an active role in the promotion of the business exchanges and in the development of fruit and vegetable trade across the Straits.

Chang-long Cai director-general of Taiwan Province Fruit & Vegetable Business Association led a delegation consisting of dozens of Taiwan business people to attend the conference in order to boost the sales of the fruit from Taiwan. Through the exchange activities Cai will establish friendly cooperation relations with the corresponding businesses on the mainland in an effort to seek way-out for Taiwan fruit.

Cai said that in recent years the quality of Taiwan fruit has been improved greatly and hundreds of thousand tons of Taiwan fruit have been exported to every part of the world. The people on the mainland have the chance to taste the fresh fruit from Taiwan. A fruit dealer from Taichung said the opening policy of the mainland is a great help to the agriculture in Taiwan.

General manager of the Beijing-based Chunlin Company is optimistic about the sales prospect of the fruit from Taiwan. He said there are great advantages for Chunlin; namely, it has won approval from the mainland government to import 14 kinds of fruit from Taiwan. The imported fruit can be delivered to wholesale markets and various supermarkets in the city. He believe not long before the mainland consumers, who are fond of Taiwan fruit, can buy their favorable Taiwan fruit at fruit wholesale markets or supermarkets.

Taiwan fruit growers are eager for mainland sales

Talking about across-the-Straits agricultural exchanges and cooperation He Shizhong, director of Economic Affairs Department with Taiwan Affairs Office said the agricultural circles on both sides of the Straits has engaged in many ways of exchanges and cooperation since 1980s. Under the common efforts of the across-the-Straits compatriots, especially the agricultural circles, outstanding results have been achieved in the agricultural exchanges and cooperation across the Straits. Taiwan businesspeople have invested in more and more agricultural projects on the mainland.

According to incomplete statistics nearly 5,000 Taiwan-funded agricultural enterprises are operating on the mainland with a total investment of some 4 billion US dollars. There appears a transition for the agricultural investment on the mainland by Taiwan business people: from experimental to pragmatic and long-term investment. Their investment has been expanded to processing, sales and trade industries from the single production of agricultural products, forming an overall production arrangement. The mainland has created sound conditions and platform for across-the-Straits agricultural cooperation. "The across-the-Straits experimental zones for agricultural cooperation" have been approved to set up in Zhangzhou and Fuzhou of Fujian province, Hainan Province, Pingdu of Shandong province, Qiqihar, Mudanjiang and Jiamusi of Heilongjiang province, and Yangling of Shaanxi province since 1997. A great number of Taiwan-funded agricultural enterprises have settled down in the zones, achieving considerable benefits.

Chang-long Cai, director-general of Taiwan Province Fruit & Vegetable Business Association, said Taiwan farmers are eager for selling Taiwan fruit on the mainland. The farmers in the counties and towns of the central and southern Taiwan have suffered a lot due to overproduction of fruit without enough sales channels since entering into the WTO two years ago. They hope the relevant departments on the mainland to work out preferential quarantine, transport and distribution procedures as soon as possible to make Taiwan farmers reduce their losses to a minimum extent by selling fruit on the mainland. Recently 12 kinds of Taiwan-grown fruit are expected to become tax-exempted and be sold in Beijing and Shanghai.

Restrictions on agricultural cooperation not beneficial to the development across the Straits

It is regretted that the Taiwan authorities has distorted the active efforts made by the mainland in helping the sales of Taiwan's agricultural goods on the mainland and inflicted some restrictions. Recently the Taiwan Farmers' Association organized the local fruit growers to attend the Guangzhou Commodities Fair, which, however, was denied by the Taiwan authorities. The officials of the association were in dismay.

Gu Yuanjun, director-general of the Taiwan Provincial Farmer's Association, said recently when interviewed by mainland reporters that Chiang Pin-kung led a delegation to visit the mainland and reached 12-point initial results with the mainland. The second, third and fourth points of the agreement are closed linked with the interests of the farmers and fishermen in Taiwan. They welcome the agreement. He said Taiwan fruits are of high quality. Exports to the mainland can solve the fruit overproduction issue for Taiwan.

Associate Professor Tian Zhihong with the Economic Management Institute under the China Agricultural University said it is urgent to realize direct and regular trade in a large quality as soon as possible if Taiwan farmers want to win a market share on the mainland for their agricultural goods. The prices for Taiwan's agricultural goods can be 10 per cent lower if Taiwan's fruit and vegetable products can shipped to the mainland directly instead of being shipped via Hong Kong.

Zhang Juan with the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Tsinghua University said the Taiwan authorities should move away the restrictions and adopt measures to normalize the trade of agricultural goods across the Straits.

Great potentials for agricultural exchanges across the Straits

He Shizhong believes that with economic globalization there are more development opportunities with stronger challenges in market competition. As a family the compatriots across the Straits have every reason to get close exchanges, expand cooperation and seek common development. The agricultural exchanges and cooperation across the Straits should be strengthened, which is in line with the common interests of the agricultural circles across the Straits. Especially the sales issue of Taiwan's agricultural goods on the mainland should be solved, which is closely connected with the vital interests of the broad farmers in Taiwan. There is no reason for restrictions. The two sides of the Straits should cooperate actively in order to push forward the settlement of the issue as quick as possible. He said, "We hope Taiwan authorities will lift the unnecessary restrictions imposed on agricultural cooperation across the Strait to push forward a common development of the agriculture on both sides".

On April 12, two Xinhua reporters to Taiwan interviewed some farmer's associations in southern Taiwan on the agricultural sales across the Straits. A director-general of one of the associations said when he visited a Shanghai supermarket he found that if the fruit from Taiwan was put on label "made in Taiwan" the fruit will become high-grade one with higher sales price, which proves there is a strong consumption capacity on the mainland.

At present the agricultural cooperation across the Straits is in a stage of in-depth development with a broad cooperative room.

By People's Daily Online