TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Mai Yu-chen (麥玉珍) shocked an audience including Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) by telling them she had once smuggled red dragon fruit into Vietnam, reports said Wednesday (July 3).

The lawmaker was speaking at a ceremony in Taichung marking the launch of red dragon fruit exports to Japan. Tokyo approved its import from Taiwan last month following eight years of negotiations.

Mai, a Vietnamese immigrant, said she liked the fruit so much during a visit to Taiwan that she cut one up and hid the pieces in her luggage to take back to Vietnam, per CNA. She planted the fruit on the 9.7 hectares of land where her family also grew other fruit and coffee beans, she said.

However, the dragon fruit never grew into a plant, Mai added. Vietnam still only has dragon fruit with white meat, the lawmaker said, praising Taiwan’s agricultural know-how.

Reacting to Mai’s revelations, the agriculture minister emphasized that the work of farmers should be protected, so he cautioned against taking the seedlings of plants overseas. He added he did not know whether the legislator had been joking or had been serious.

Chen said he was convinced of the competitive strengths of Taiwan’s farming exports. Even if competitors emerged, the unique characteristics of the country’s environment and the advanced level of its technology would be difficult to replicate, he said.