China paused some trade with Taiwan in retaliation to an unscheduled visit of the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the controversial island last night.
China’s General Administration of Customs made an announcement early Wednesday that some fish and fruit imports from Taiwan were suspended due to excessive pesticide residue detected on products multiple times since last year and reiterated of the incident in June that some frozen fish packages were tested positive for Covid-19.
Multiple products from Taiwan have been banned by China in the past years. Imports of pineapple were banned in February last year. Wax and sugar apple faced the same fate several months later in September.
China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner recording a sizable surplus against China with exports exceeding imports by $172 billion.
Beijing also made several moves that were seen as a retaliation to yesterday’s incident. Yesterday, China summoned US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns overnight to protest against Washington’s action, while announcing that the Chinese military PLA will conduct important military exercises and training activities including live-fire drills in six regions surrounding Taiwan from August 4-7.
As for a soft slap to the U.S., Chinese battery giant CATL paused its multi-billion dollar US plant debut. CATL is expected to wait until the fourth quarter to make the announcement.
