China says no to canola

BEIJING: China yesterday confirmed it has suspended the clearance of canola imports from Canadian agribusiness Richardson International and said customs will step up inspections of Canadian canola until further notice.

China’s foreign ministry said customs officials had discovered pests in samples of canola imports from Canada. It said the problem with one company was ‘‘particularly serious,’’ but did not name the firm.

China’s General Administration of Customs named the firm as Richardson, the largest exporter of Canadian canola to China. Richardson said its shipments met regulatory requirements.

The dispute over the quality of Canadian canola comes amid rising tensions between Beijing and Ottawa, following Canada’s arrest of the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Ltd, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, who faces US criminal charges.

Richardson’s canola export registration was cancelled on March 1, according to a customs document posted on the authority’s website that day, and previously reported by Reuters.

In yesterday’s statement, customs said several ports including Nanning, Dalian and Shenzhen had recently detected the fungus that causes blackleg disease as well as another harmful bacteria called Pseudomonas syringae in samples of Canadian canola.

It also named three other weeds that had been found recently in samples.

The lawyer for a senior executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei said comments by US President Donald Trump suggest the case against her is politically motivated.

During a court appearance yesterday for Meng Wanzhou, he referred to Trump’s comments.

Canada arrested the daughter of Huawei’s founder at the request of the US in December.

The US and China have tried to keep Meng’s case separate from the trade dispute but Trump undercut that position saying he would consider intervening in the case if it helped forge a trade deal with Beijing. — Reuters/AP