TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A shipment from Taiwan was blocked by Chinese customs for not being labeled as coming from “Taiwan, China,” according to the Ministry of Finance’s Customs Administration (CA) on Tuesday (Aug. 9).
The Customs Administration said on Aug. 5 that a Taiwanese company had asked for assistance after one of its shipments was blocked by Chinese customs for not following labeling requirements, according to CNA. The company said it was told that declaration documents for the shipment needed to say it came from “Taiwan, China.”
An official from the CA said it was unaware of the type of product or the size of the shipment as the company did not provide that information, per the report.
Nikkei last week said several Taiwanese companies had received requests from customers that shipments comply with Chinese labeling requirements, which forbid the words “Taiwan,” “Republic of China,” or “R.O.C” from appearing. Chinese officials warned manufacturers that the prohibited words could not appear on boxes, shipping documents, cartons, and export and import declaration forms.
In 2015, China began requiring Taiwanese imports to be labeled as originating from “Taiwan, China” or other wordings that point to Taiwan as being a part of China, according to CNA. However, the rules were not strictly enforced until U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan last week.