《TAIPEI TIMES》 COA says hands tied on stopping drain to China

LACK OF EVIDENCE: The council’s deputy minister said that 409 rules prohibit farm work investment in China, but he was unable to name a fine for a breach

By Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

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The Council of Agriculture （COA） yesterday said that it has no authority to fine experts or business entities that share sensitive technologies with China, after Beijing introduced incentives to attract Taiwanese agricultural know-how and investment.

Xinhua news agency reported that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office （TAO） unveiled a policy package to incentivize Taiwanese to invest in Chinese agriculture.

Dubbed “The 22 Forestry and Agricultural Measures” by Taiwanese media, the incentives would grant Taiwanese the right to obtain land, a credit rating, subsidies and access to trade organizations for a broad swathe of agricultural activities, including forestry, and the cultivation of tea, fruit and flowers.

COA Deputy Minister Chen Junne-jih （陳駿季） said that government regulations prohibit farmers from engaging in 409 types of farm work — including pineapple cultivation — as investment in China.

However, when asked by reporters, Chen was unable to name a person or business that had been fined by the council for breaches of the regulations.

While other government agencies have referred numerous alleged infringements to the council, Chen said that “sufficient evidence” had not been presented for the council to take action.

“We cannot take action based on a Web site or some administrative process,” Chen said.

Council personnel and academics participating in the research and development of crucial agricultural technologies must obtain a permit to visit China, he said.

During the first three years of their retirement, senior officials with knowledge of research programs must obtain a permit to travel to China, and the three-year restriction is renewable, he said.

Restrictions regarding travel to China are applied more rigorously because of differences between the two countries that are not present in Taiwan’s relations with democratic nations, he said.

The government is not planning to include China’s allies and partners in the travel restrictions, because being friendly with Beijing does not mean that they would take local product information, he said.

However, measures blocking the export of indigenous cultivars and technologies would likely be more effective at protecting Taiwan’s agricultural expertise than restrictions on people’s freedom of movement, he said.

The Mainland Affairs Council said that the incentives package was part of China’s “united front” efforts aimed at coercing Taiwan into unifying with China.

“Beijing calls them benefits for Taiwanese, but it is China that benefits,” it said.

Only a small number of Taiwanese would gain from the measure, but overall, Taiwanese agriculture would suffer, it said.

Earlier yesterday, TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian （朱鳳蓮） told a news conference in Beijing that the measures would “grant equality to Taiwanese compatriots and Taiwanese enterprises.”

In 2019, China’s flower trade totaled US$620 million, including US$262 million in imports, said Jiang Jiangping （蔣建平）, deputy director of the Office of Taiwan Agricultural Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Flower cultivation is an important area of cross-strait cooperation, with a good existing framework of collaboration, he said, citing Taiwanese growers’ work in the autonomous region of Guangxi.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES