Taiwan protests its exports labelled "Made in Taiwan, China"

May 23, 2010, 0:57 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan was to persuade China to drop its demand that all Taiwanese goods exported to China must be marked 'Made in Taiwan Province of China,' it was reported Sunday.

'We will not accept China's demand, and will hold talks with China to find a solution,' the Liberty Times quoted Vice Economics Minister Lin Sheng-chung as saying.

'Both Taiwan and China are WTO (World Trade Organization) members, and Taiwan is a separate tariffs territory recognized by WTO,' he said. 'Therefore, China's demand violates WTO rules and hurts Taiwan exporters' interests.'

According to the report, China had stipulated as early as 2005 that Taiwanese goods sold to China be marked as coming from 'Taiwan, China' or 'Taipei, China.'

But the request by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade had not been taken seriously by Chinese customs until recently.

In recent months, several regions in China have begun to screen the source of origin of Taiwanese goods, and rejected those marked 'Made in Taiwan,' the report said.

The newspaper published a copy of a document issued by the inspection and quarantine bureau of Yantian in China's Guangdong Province, which says that Taiwan can be called 'Taiwan, China' or Taipei, China.'

Taiwan and China split in 1949 when the Chinese Rationalists lost the mainland to the Communists and fled to Taiwan to set up their government-in-exile.

Taiwan insists it is a sovereign country. Currently 23 countries recognize Taiwan. But China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province awaiting reunification with the motherland.