Newspaper Insert Introduces ‘Made in Taiwan’ Labels to Product Catalogues

Taiwan's national flag flutters beside Taipei 101 at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei on Oct. 7, 2012. Mandy Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

Retailer Machinery House has published a catalogue of its products that now include labels to indicate which products were made in Taiwan, which has been praised by the international community for containing the spread of the CCP virus.

The catalogue displays items for purchase and beside some of them is the Taiwanese flag with the text “Made in Taiwan” printed beneath it. There appear to be no flags from other countries.

A member of the community from the Gold Coast spotted the catalogue in her paper on the weekend before uploading it to Facebook on June 7.

Machinery House catalogue distributed on the Gold Coast, Queensland on June 7, 2020. Supplied

The photo received comments of approval from some social media users.

“Australia has faith in Taiwanese manufacturing,” one woman wrote in Chinese.

Another person commented that she had seen more Taiwanese food being sold in Woolworths and Coles, and posted a photo of a popular Taiwanese shallot sauce she recently found in Coles.

“This is what would actually sell,” another man wrote in Chinese.

Machinery House’s move to publish the Taiwan flag in its catalogue comes after a YouGov poll revealed that 88 percent of Australians want to buy Australian made, and also comes as Australia looks to diversify its trading partners.

The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, has revealed just how deeply Australia has relied on China.

The government has recently announced new trade agreements are in the works with India, Indonesia, and the UK.

Earlier in May, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells spoke of the need for Australia not to put all its eggs in the China basket.

“We need to rely less on China for our economic development and wellbeing and turn to our regional democratic neighbours to build our trading relations and prosperity,” Fierravanti-Wells told The Epoch Times on May 11.

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China’s aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomatic response to Australia’s call for an investigation into the origins of the CCP virus—implementing tariffs and trade bans—has likely added to the already dim views that 70 percent of Australians have developed towards China’s ruling communist regime in the wake of the pandemic.

China-Taiwan-Australia Relations

Relations between China and Taiwan are fraught, as the Chinese regime considers Taiwan a renegade province, even as the island is a de facto independent country with its own elected officials, military, and constitution.

Beijing’s agenda in Taiwan includes persuading Taiwanese citizens to accept unification with the mainland.

Australia’s “one-China” policy currently recognises Taiwan as part of China, however, Australia has supported Taiwan to be an observer at the World Health Assembly after Beijing banned the island nation in 2017.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia’s two-way trade with Taiwan is worth $17.6 billion. Taiwan supplies Australia with telecom equipment, tourism, and computers. Australia exports coal, iron ore, natural gas, and tourism, and education.

Taiwan aims to increase bilateral and regional trade agreements and its New Southbound Policy will see the nation diversify its trade to encourage investment, education, and research links with Australia, New Zealand, South Asia, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Australia is Taiwan’s largest energy supplier and Taiwan is Australia’s fifth-largest resources and energy market. In 2018, Australia’s total investment in Taiwan was $10.2 billion, an increase of 23 percent year-on-year.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the name of the company. The Epoch Times regrets the error.