Taiwanese flags throughout the National Day celebration in Keelung, Taiwan, on Monday, Oct. 9, 2022.
I-Hwa Cheng | Bloomberg | Getty Images
China suspended tax concessions on 12 chemical compound imports from Taiwan in retaliation for what Beijing deems to be a violation of a commerce settlement, simply weeks ahead of key elections in the democratically-run island.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry final Friday extended its probe into Taiwan’s alleged restrictions on commerce with the mainland to Jan. 12, only a day earlier than the island’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
China has accused Taiwan of violating World Trade Organization guidelines and the phrases of a 2010 commerce accord between each events.
“Taiwan has unilaterally adopted discriminatory bans, restrictions and different measures on the export of mainland merchandise, violating the provisions of the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement,” China’s Finance Ministry stated in a statement Thursday.
Chemical compounds that may now be subjected to tariffs from Jan. 1 embody vinyl chloride, dodecylbenzene and first varieties of the ethylene propylene copolymer.
Beijing’s newest commerce salvo additionally comes at a time when Taiwanese corporations, together with its mega semiconductor producers, are diversifying their foot print in the mainland and lowering their financial reliance on China, in half resulting from Washington’s chip conflict in opposition to Beijing.
The timing of China’s probe is intentional and suggests its goals are extra political than financial, stated Lin Tze-luen, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s legislative Executive Yuan, at a press conference in Taipei after an everyday cupboard assembly. He additionally stated China’s investigation course of was opaque.
The island’s Democratic Progressive Party-led authorities has usually accused Beijing of vote interference both by army intimidation or by cooptation of Taiwan’s enterprise elite resulting from their financial reliance on the world’s second-largest financial system.
China has escalated military activity in the Taiwan Strait and close by waters this 12 months as Beijing presses its claims over the island it sees as its personal.