China’s Ministry of Commerce had on Saturday, released a statement saying that China is currently investigating further trade measures against Taiwan, two days after Beijing denounced a speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.
The statement was posted to the ministry’s website and it said that the Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan’s ruling party, had not taken any practical measures to withdraw the “trade restrictions” on China.
“At present, relevant (Chinese government) departments are studying further measures based on the conclusions of the investigation into trade barriers from Taiwan” against China, the statement read.
Taiwan’s China policy making Mainland Affairs Council had however, said it regretted and “strongly protested” the move.
“Blatant economic coercion will only arouse the resentment of the Taiwanese people and cause the distance between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to grow wider and wider,” the council said in a statement.
The Chinese government sees democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, hence, it loathes Lai as a “separatist”.
Lai and his government on the other hand has rejected Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
During his keynote national day speech on Thursday, Lai said the People’s Republic of China had no right to represent Taiwan, and that the island was open to working with Beijing to fight challenges like climate change, striking both a firm and conciliatory tone, drawing anger from China.
This latest announcement from China’s commerce ministry could portend tariffs or other forms of economic pressure against the island in the foreseeable future.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, which said on Thursday that Lai’s speech promoted “separatist ideas” and incited confrontation, had responded to the announcement by saying the fundamental reason behind the trade dispute was the “DPP authorities’ stubborn adherence to the stance of ‘Taiwan independence’.
In May, China reestablished tariffs on the 134 items it imports from Taiwan, after Beijing’s finance ministry announced it would suspend concessions on the items under a trade deal because Taiwan had not reciprocated.
The Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between China and Taiwan was originally signed in 2010 and Taiwanese officials had previously told Reuters that China was likely to pressure Lai by terminating some of the preferential trading terms within it.
