‘PREPOSTEROUS’: Hwa Mei Food chairman Lu Ming-yen said trade with China has always been risky, but it is ridiculous that businesses are losing millions ‘over a word’

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 16, 2018
By: Yan Hung-chun, Yang Chun-hui and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

China has destroyed several shipments of imported Taiwanese food products after companies failed to label them as produced in “Taiwan Area (台灣地區)” or “Taiwan Area, China (中國台灣地區),” as required by Chinese officials, businesses said.

Hwa Mei Food Co (樺美食品) chairman Lu Ming-yen (呂明炎) said he has personal knowledge of three cases in which Taiwanese import products were destroyed because their label did not use the word “area.”

Lu learned of those incidents after he last year became the president of a Changhua-based trade and export association, he said.

“In each case, Taiwanese manufacturers who were unaware of the rule had labeled their product’s place of origin as Chinese Taiwan and the Chinese customs office destroyed all their merchandise,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]