Mar 8, 2021
A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:
Michael Turton is a political commentator, writer and Taipei Times columnist based in Taichung, Taiwan. I first learned about him through his long running blog, The View From Taiwan when I lived in Taiwan myself and started blogging about living there. I’ve invited him on to the podcast to talk about China’s recent Taiwan pineapple ban. We talked about what’s really behind the ban and how trade issues between China and Taiwan led to the 2014 Sunflower Movement and occupation of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan building.
CORRECTION: At 1:28 when Michael says “over in Xiamen” he meant to refer to Fujian. There several towns in Fujian- Yongfu and Qingliu but not Xiamen, that are now using agricultural techniques learned from Taiwan. See link to the CommonWealth Magazine article, “Is Taiwan’s Farm Sector Selling Out to China” for reference.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
Related Links:
Taipei Times article, “PRC bans import of Taiwan pineapples”: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/02/27/2003752913
Taipei Times article, “China pineapple ban offset in four days”: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/03/03/2003753138
Guardian article, “Taiwanese urged to eat ‘freedom pineapples’ after China import ban”: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/02/taiwanese-urged-to-eat-freedom-pineapples-after-china-import-ban?fbclid=IwAR226v7PM6yXUM7UqWsPOyD_jwwpkQNKWpyFnXakMYUgDbtTNJd_OKsWxgc
Taiwan News article, "Japanese with 'Taiwan pineapple fever' empty store shelves": https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4145007?fbclid=IwAR0TLArguULOz7Y3iiZ0VIBHRjFrChPosZu8-fTbqxSJGxAnw6AKe7ANE1g
CommonWealth Magazine article, “Is Taiwan’s Farm Sector Selling Out to China”:
https://english.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=965
Michael Turton’s podcast, Taiwan Context: https://anchor.fm/taiwancontext/episodes/Taiwan-Context--Human-Rights-Defender-epmtsm
Michael Turton’s blog, The View From Taiwan: https://michaelturton.blogspot.com/
Ian Rowen’s research on Chinese tour groups in Taiwan: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.ntu.edu.sg/dist/f/1564/files/2017/12/Rowen-2014-Tourism-as-territorial-strategy-x64350.pdf
Sunflower Movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_Student_Movement
An article about Taiwan’s pineapple industry in 1960: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=8%2C8%2C29%2C32%2C32%2C45&post=14054&fbclid=IwAR1bP4UHEg3rbTacOf9g9N4lPd7rQaSPFOWrcc1lR6a4GMIWV3KuOH6JV8I