China is destroying imports that say 'Made in Taiwan' as part of its massive political crackdown
- Chinas has been destroying products from Taiwan that don't label the country of origin as "Taiwan Area."
- Products must not be la belled as a product of "Taiwan," "Chinese Taiwan", or use the island's official name "Republic of China."
- Taiwan is a self-ruled island but China considers it as a province of China.
China has been destroying imports from Taiwan, reports Taipei Times.
Destroyed stock ran afoul of authorities for not specifying Taiwan is a region of China on country-of-origin labels.
According to Taipei Times, several food shipments were destroyed last year for failing to use "Produced in Taiwan Area" or "Produced in Taiwan Area, China."
The use of the word "area" appears to be crucial to this rule because products that used the phrase "Chinese Taiwan" were destroyed. The leader of a Taiwanese trade and export association, Lu Ming-yen, told Taipei Times he was aware of three such instances, which would have cost businesses more than $100,000 for each destroyed shipment.
The news comes days after China began pressuring international corporations, including Zara, Marriott, and Delta Air Lines, to fix references to the country of Taiwan on their websites.
Taiwan's status is highly contentious. The democratic island, officially known as the Republic of China, is self-ruled. A pro-independence party has been in power since 2016.
But Beijing considers Taiwan a province of China. Under the "One China" principle, Taiwan is part of one China and will eventually be fully reunified.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who famously called then President-elect Donald Trump which raised China's ire, has refused to acknowledge the One China principle.
Lu told the Taipei Times there were no issues during previous Taiwan administrations but since a pro-independence party took office China has pushed for the use of "Taiwan Area" on products.
The situation has reportedly been made more difficult by Taiwan's own export rules. According to a report from Taiwan News, Taiwan custom officials have been instructed to only export goods that use one of three labels: "Made in Republic of China," "Made in Taiwan, Republic of China," or "Made in Taiwan."