Security concerns related to Taiwan’s economic dependence on China have surfaced from time to time since engagement across the Taiwan Strait deepened from the early 1990s. Former Taiwanese president Lee Ting-Hui launched the Southbound Policy in the mid-1990s to diversify economic partners to reduce dependence on China, famously described by economist Hu Angang as ‘economic diabetes’. China’s most recent sanctions on Taiwanese pineapples will not be the last time the issue gains attention.
