Mainland Businesses Looks for Wider Opening of Taiwan Market

With mainland investment in Taiwan not as satisfying as expected since restrictions were lifted 6 months ago, Taiwan's authorities have held a symposium to attract more mainland investors to the island.

The symposium comes as a sideline event of the fresh round of cross-Straits talks in central Taiwan's Taichung city.

Since June, mainland businesses have been able to invest in Taiwan in the sectors of herbal medicine, automobiles, wholesales, retail and tourism. But those sectors like real estate development, finance and telecommunication, which many mainland companies are interested in, are still not on the list.

As of the end of November, 15 mainland enterprises had invested nearly 6 million U.S. dollars in the island.

However, that figure of 15 is still small, compared with 80 thousand Taiwan enterprises on the mainland.

Chiang Pin-kun, Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation chairman, admitted that not many mainland investors have entered Taiwan, and the island is trying to address this.

"At the very beginning, a limited number of sectors were open to them. In addition, many mainland investors are not yet familiar with the local market and business practices. That's why so far not many mainland investors have started doing business in Taiwan."

Fujian New Land Group is the first mainland company to invest in Taiwan.

Wang Jing, chairman of the company, said although her company has been operating well in Taiwan, there are still some minor inconveniences, such as the complex procedures certain employees must navigate when they visit Taiwan.

"We hope Taiwan can offer more supportive policies, just as the mainland has launched many preferential policies for Taiwan's investors - in taxes, for example."

Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland's Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits, said Taiwan shouldn't be afraid of competitors because the mainland's manufacturing advantage and Taiwan's advanced marketing can complement each other.

Kao Kong-Lian, Vice Chairman of Straits Exchange Foundation echoed Chen's sentiments.

He said the two-way investment across the strait will help the mainland and Taiwan take the lead to recover from the global financial crisis.

"The two-way investment will definitely create more opportunities for the two sides, so that they can become driving forces of the global economy."

Chen Zhe, CRI News.