Guidelines ease investment from Taiwan to Fujian

Guidelines for Taiwan business investment in Fujian province for this year were published by the provincial Department of Commerce recently. It was the first special guidance for Taiwan investors to put their money into ventures on the Chinese mainland.

The one-stop policy reference includes 38 guidelines for supporting Taiwan businesses in fields such as finance, taxation, talent resources and social welfare. It aims to promote the integrated development of industries in Fujian and Taiwan and better serve Taiwan entities as they embrace new development patterns.

Fujian officials noted several national and provincial policies that were introduced in recent years to enhance the effectiveness and diversity of economic and trade cooperation with Taiwan.

But many Taiwan business entities said those policies were scattered through different documents, which was not convenient for getting a comprehensive and accurate understanding.

Therefore, the department sorted out the existing policies and measures related to Taiwan and compiled them in a guideline book. It also reorganized overlapping rules.

Over the years, as a frontier province for cross-Straits cooperation, Fujian has been working on enlarging the cooperative platform for industries on both sides and supporting the upgrading and transformation of Taiwan-funded companies through expanded online distribution channels.

In the first half of this year, commercial integration between the two regions was enlarged, with a total of 702 new Taiwan-funded enterprises established in Fujian province. They account for 54 percent of the newly established foreign-funded firms there.

Trade volume between Fujian and Taiwan was about 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion) last year, a year-on-year increase of 28.4 percent.

Feng Xiaojie in Beijing contributed to this story.