Freedom pineapples

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen launched a social media campaign called "Eat Taiwan's pineapples until you burst," which encouraged citizens to increase their consumption of local pineapples. Restaurants went to great lengths to incorporate pineapple into dishes such as beef noodle soup.[8]

The largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has encouraged people to eat more local pineapple.[9]

Taiwanese firms have placed large additional orders for local pineapples.[10]

The situation has resulted in a consolidation of Taiwanese identity across the political spectrum.[11] The import ban followed PRC Premier Li Keqiang’s assurance that China was seeking to promote peaceful relations with Taiwan, this mixing of messages inflamed public opinion against China.[12]

Taiwanese farmers have begun diverting non-pineapple exports from China to other markets due to worries that their product could be next.[13]

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  William Lai and Huang Wei-cher supported pineapple farmers in Tainan on 28 February 2021.
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  Tsai Ing-wen and Chen Chi-mai supported pineapple farmers in Kaohsiung on 28 February 2021.

The event received heavy coverage in Japan,[14] with supermarkets selling out of pineapples and large orders being placed.[15][16] A foodie music group in Japan released a music video about the situation. Sales also increased in Hong Kong which was not subject to the Chinese import ban.[17] The freedom pineapple campaign has also received support in Australia with parallels being drawn to Chinese tariff increases on Australian wine.[13][18]

The “Freedom Pineapples” initiative received support from the American Institute in Taiwan and the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, the de facto embassies of allies such as Canada and the United States with the Canadians referencing the Canadian invention pineapple pizza.[19]

In April 2021 former American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted a picture of himself eating dried Taiwanese pineapple while playing chess using the hashtag #FreedomPineapple.[20]