Beijing has decided to provide special loans to Taiwan-funded
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the mainland in a
financial program to woo businesses from the island.
Chen Yunlin, minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State
Council, made the remark yesterday during a meeting with a
delegation of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT).
"We will encourage commercial banks to offer special credits" to
agricultural firms as well as SMEs funded by Taiwan investors on
the mainland, Chen said.
Beijing has always paid great attention to the financial needs
of Taiwan enterprises on the mainland, he added.
Sources said the Taiwan Affairs Office is due to sign an
agreement with the Beijing-based Huaxia Bank on Monday to help ease
the financial shortage of some Taiwan SMEs.
The program consists of a special credit fund and preferential
loan policies for these firms.
The latest economic sweetener came after the China Development
Bank, one of the mainland's three policy banks, offered 30 billion
yuan (US$3.75 billion) in loans to Taiwan investors last
September.
Chen said the mainland would further enhance exchanges and
communication with the KMT to strengthen cross-Straits economic
links.
"We will make concrete efforts to safeguard the interests of
Taiwan compatriots and promote their businesses on the mainland,"
he told the KMT delegation.
Delegation head Tseng Yung-chuan, director of the KMT's "central
policy committee," welcomed the mainland move.
The financial support will help these firms "upgrade their
production and sharpen their competitive edge," he told reporters
at a later press conference.
Despite political tensions, cross-Straits economic ties have
grown stronger over the past two decades.
By the end of 2005, Taiwan investors had funded 68,095 projects
on the mainland, with contract investment of US$89.69 billion.
Trade volume across the Straits reached US$91.23 billion last year,
with the mainland being Taiwan's biggest export market and largest
source of trade surplus.
(China Daily July 8, 2006)