Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson with the Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council. Photo: VCG

A spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on Tuesday slammed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities on the island of Taiwan for smearing the mainland's normal food safety regulatory measures as "trade barriers" for its own political gains, while disregarding the island's interests.

DPP authorities have in recent days frequently claimed that the mainland has created "trade barriers" and adopted "discriminatory treatment" for Taiwan food companies.

Commenting on such claims, Zhu Fenglian, the spokesperson, said that the DPP authorities continue to maliciously distort the facts, which is purely political manipulation aimed at smearing others and concealing the facts.

Zhu pointed out that in April 2021, the mainland issued new registration regulations for firms that export food to the mainland, which took effect on January 1, 2022. The regulations apply to the registration and administration of enterprises from all countries and regions that produce, process and store food exported to the mainland. The relevant regulations are lawful, open and transparent, and are in line with international rules and common practices, while taking full account of the principle of trade facilitation, Zhu noted.

The competent authorities made notifications in accordance with the relevant rules of the WTO and notified Taiwan authorities of the relevant matters and requirements in October 2021, according to Zhu.

The spokesperson stressed that in accordance to the new regulations, relevant authorities examined and approved the registration applications of Taiwan-based food enterprises in a timely manner, and notified those that did not meet the requirements about specific reasons. The mainland also extended the deadline for relevant enterprises to submit additional registration information.

Enterprises that have updated their registration information as required and passed the examination have maintained normal exports to the mainland, Zhu said.

She noted that from April 2021 to August 2022, there was enough time to properly handle the registration of Taiwan food enterprises, and it is not difficult to solve the problem of incomplete and non-standard registration information of some Taiwan food enterprises.

However, instead of taking effective measures to assist relevant enterprises, the DPP smeared the mainland's normal food safety supervision measures as "trade barriers" and "discriminatory treatment," fully revealing its disregard for the interests of the island's businesses and its nature of pursuing selfish political gains, said Zhu.

Global Times