Beijing announced yesterday it will drop import tariffs on 15 categories of Taiwan-grown fruit from August 1.

The move to unilaterally implement the tax break, offered by the mainland in early May, came after Taipei refused to send envoys to private talks proposed by Beijing on Wednesday.

An unidentified spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday that related mainland departments have made preparations for Taiwanese farmers to sell their produce on the mainland market as Taiwan begins its fruit harvest.

The 15 kinds of fruit to enjoy tariff-free imports are pineapples, lychees, papayas, starfruit, mangos, guavas, wax apples, betel nuts, pomelos, jujubes, coconuts, loquats, plums, peaches and persimmons.

Customs will make public the procedure of importing the 15 types of fruit later, and quality supervision departments will take measures to facilitate the imports, said the spokesman. The commerce ministry urged Taiwanese administrations to help their fruit-growers solve any problems arising from implementation of the policy.

Beijing made the offer to scrap import tariffs on 15 varieties of Taiwan-grown fruit in May following the mainland visit of Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan. The policy was welcomed by Taiwanese farmers, who have been suffering poor sales during the harvest season due to limited market demand.

But Taiwan's pro-"independence" Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has described the mainland policy as a "united front" strategy to woo Taiwanese farmers from the ruling party and rejected Beijing's proposal for private talks on the issue.

Chen Yunlin, minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said allowing the tariff-free entry of Taiwanese fruit was a concrete effort by the mainland to promote the fundamental interests of Taiwan compatriots.

(China Daily 07/29/2005 page2)