Beijing welcomes Taiwanese companies to list on the mainland to
fuel their further expansion, said Li Bingcai, executive deputy
director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
Li made the remark Wednesday at a symposium about the listing of
Taiwanese companies on the Chinese mainland.
Ranking officials from the China
Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Ministry of Commerce
attended the symposium to explain the listing procedures to
Taiwanese companies.
Li expects the symposium will offer substantial help to
Taiwanese companies that wish to launch an IPO but don't know much
about the procedures.
Wang Jianmin, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, believes the symposium will assist Taiwan companies in
moving through the listing process.
He believes more of them will seek A-share listings, as this
will help to raise their profile on the mainland. Moreover, yuan
proceeds can be used to finance local expansion.
A handful of Taiwanese firms have filed applications for listing
with the CSRC, including Giant Manufacturing, Tingyi Holdings,
Uni-President and Want Want.
An analyst from GF Securities said the Fuzhou plant of Chunghwa
Picture Tubes (CPT), Taiwan's third-largest flat panel maker, is
expected to go public on the Shanghai A-share market this year.
Chunghwa's initial public offering, if approved, will make it
the second Taiwan company listing on the local yuan-dominated
bourse.
The first is Zhejiang King Refrigeration, which raised 280
million yuan (US$33.8 million) last December.
King Refrigeration is also the first overseas-funded company
listing on the A-share market since the Chinese government issued
new guidelines in November 2001. Those provide a legal basis for
overseas-funded companies seeking to list on the domestic market,
and underscore the government's wish to see more Taiwan companies
do business with the mainland.
CSRC rationed listings last year so as not to flood the
struggling market with too many new shares, Wang said.
However, the local A-share market is recovering and also
recorded a large increase in turnover, which may encourage the CSRC
to allow an increase in IPOs, he added.
Trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan is expected to
continue growing this year, in part owing to the mainland's
investment environment pursuant to its World Trade Organization
commitments, said Wang Xiaochuan, vice-director of the Taiwan, Hong
Kong and Macao Affairs Department of the Ministry of Commerce.
He also called on Taiwan authorities to lift import and
investment restrictions to benefit industries on both sides.
"In 2003, cross-Straits trade was on a fast track, booking a
record US$58.4 billion. This momentum is likely to continue," he
said.
Machinery and electronic products are the mainstays of the
two-way trade, which accounted for 61.4 percent of the overall
trade volume last year.
However, the mainland had a trade deficit with Taiwan that hit
US$40 billion in 2003, a jump of about 31 percent over the previous
year.
"Huge exports from Taiwan to the mainland offset its deficit
with other trade partners," Wang said.
Taiwan's reluctance to implement a "direct trade link" and its
restrictions on mainland products and investment are the major
reasons leading to the trade imbalance, Wang said.
Meanwhile, the mainland approved 4,495 projects funded by Taiwan
investors last year. They involved US$8.6 billion of contractual
capital, up 27 percent year-on-year.
Currently, most mainland-Taiwan trade goes through Hong Kong,
Macao or other places.
(China Daily February 26, 2004)