Taiwan protesters call for retaliatory boycott of Chinese beer, BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific posted on July 12, 2004. Taiwan should ban the sale of China's Tsingtao Beer and Yanjing Beer for one year to retaliate for China's banning the sale of Taiwan Beer, according to pro-independence figures.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Chi-fang, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTL) labour union chairman Tsai Teng-shun, and Peter Wang, leader of the Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan, together urged the public to boycott Tsingtao and Yanjing beers.

Wang said China rejected Taiwan Beer's application for sale in China on 1 July on the grounds that Taiwan Beer violates the Chinese logo law, which specifies that the names of county and superior administrative regions in China cannot be used in logos. "But since when did Taiwan become an administrative region of China? Taiwan doesn't belong to China," Wang said.

"Taiwan and China are both members of World Trade Organization and should abide by the organization's regulations. Taiwan Beer has registered with the US and the member countries of the European Union, but China is violating the organization's regulations by restricting Taiwan Beer's sale for non-economic reasons," Wang said.

Tsai Chi-fang pointed out that China demanded Taiwan Beer rename itself as TTL Beer if it wanted to enter the Chinese market. "We are urging the Taiwanese public to boycott Tsingtao Beer and Yanjing Beer from now on, and until China allows Taiwan Beer to be sold in China with its proper name, we also demand that the government ban Tsingtao and Yanjing beers for one year," Tsai Chi- fang said.

Tsai Chi-fang said that he was promoting legislation to ban the two beers. "Tsingtao Beer is also using a place name as its logo, and asking Taiwan Beer to rename is unequal trade behaviour. It would limit Taiwan Beer's competitiveness in the market," Tsai Teng-shun said.

13 July, 2004