Fruit and seafood are the latest front in escalating Taiwan-China tensions

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan said Thursday that China’s ban on imports of its fruit, vegetables, seafood and other goods violates trade rules, in the latest escalation of tensions between the self-governing island republic and its massive neighbor, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it by military means.

The Taiwanese government’s Mainland Affairs Council said the ban, which takes effect next week, ignores rules laid out by the World Trade Organization, of which both sides are members.

The move comes amid growing military, political and economic pressure on Taiwan’s government to concede to Beijing’s control. Taiwan’s semi-tropical climate and fertile soil have nurtured an agricultural industry valued at around $500 billion dollars, alongside high-tech corporations that produce the world’s most cutting-edge computer chips.

China’s move “harms the interests of farmers” on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and does nothing to improve relations between the two, the council said. China and Taiwan should seek dialogue through the WTO to resolve their differences, it added.

The WTO is one of the few forums through which discussion is possible between the two sides, which divided amid civil war in 1949. Chinese diplomatic pressure has barred Taiwan from the United Nations and reduced its number of official diplomatic allies to 12.

The Chinese ban appears to target rural Taiwanese, who for the past two decades have largely voted for pro-independence candidates but whose local officials have been courted by China with all-expense vacations and other enticements.

China has used trade pressure on countries such as Australia, South Korea and Norway over perceived political slights, using its market for resources and consumer goods as leverage, with mixed results.

Christopher Bodeen, The Associated Press