DPP authorities should bear full responsibility for mainland's tariff measure: ministry

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities should bear full responsibility for mainland's suspension of Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) tariff rates for 134 imported products from the Taiwan island, a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said on Friday.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced Friday that the Chinese mainland will suspend the application of the tariff rates of the ECFA for 134 imported products from the Taiwan island starting from June 15, as the Taiwan island has unilaterally adopted discriminatory prohibitions, restrictions and other measures on the exports of products from the mainland.

One of the items subject to the new rule is lubricant oil.

The decision made by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has been supported by multiple Chinese ministries and government agencies, which said the DPP authorities should bear full responsibility.

"We support relevant authorities' decision to suspend ECFA tariff rates cuts for 134 products from the Taiwan island," Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Friday. 

"ECFA is based on the 1992 Consensus and Lai Ching-te's radical stance seeking 'Taiwan independence' has seriously dismantled the foundation for the implementation of the ECFA, forcing the Chinese mainland to expand the scope of suspension," Chen said.

For a long time, the DPP authorities unilaterally placed trade curbs on over 2,500 items of imports from the mainland, and have violated ECFA's principle of gradually easing tariffs and nontariff barriers across the Straits, damaging the interests of companies and compatriots, Chen said.

The new suspension measure followed a decision announced in December last year that suspended ECFA tariff rates cuts for 12 products including some chemicals from the Taiwan island.

The DPP authorities have turned a deaf ear to the mainland's call to take effective measures to remove trade restrictions against the mainland and have even gone further to disrupt the normal trade and economic activities between the two sides, resulting in the new decision to suspend preferential tariffs for more goods from the island, Chen said.

The ECFA is a comprehensive cross-Straits economic pact intended to lower commercial barriers.