Cavendish bananas from Mindanao. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The country’s embassy in Beijing is disputing the claim made by agriculture officials and President Benigno Aquino himself that China has virtually shut out banana exports from the Philippines.
In a “notice to the public” posted on its website, the embassy claimed “to date, there has never been any suspension by the Chinese government of the entry of bananas from the Philippines for as long as these pass the food and safety standards and requirement of the People’s Republic of China.”
“Therefore, bananas from the Philippines continue to be sold in China,” the embassy claimed.
The embassy also insisted that the issuance of visas to Chinese travelers to the Philippines “has never been interrupted.”
The Beijing mission, along with Philippine consulates in Shanghai, Xiamen, Chongqing, and Guangzhou, “continue to issue visas to Chinese individual and group travelers to the Philippines,” it said. Jerry E. Esplanada