Taiwan Wednesday placed a ban on live pigs and pork product imports from Italy following Rome’s suspension of flights between the two nations in response to the coronavirus epidemic.
Italy stopped all flights between the nation and Taiwan, China as well as Hong Kong on January 31 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“Deletion of recognition of Italy as a nation free of African swine fever,” a statement issued by Taiwan’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine stated.
Rome’s flight ban did not play well in Taipei, which ordered Italy’s representative Davide Giglio to urge a speedy resumption of flights.
Beijing was not proud of the ban and has advanced to have it lifted but thus far with no success.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio stated earlier this month that the ban on flights was an emergency step.
Taiwan’s imports of commercial items from Italy accounted for $2.6 billion last year with machinery, chemicals, leather, vehicles, and textiles leading the list, based on Taipei’s representative office in Rome.
The website of Taiwan’s state-controlled Central News Agency (CNA) reported the Taiwan government as saying: “After carrying out a rolling assessment of the worldwide epidemic of African swine fever, the bureau has concluded that the pandemic on the Italian island of Sardinia is intensifying.”
