Experts attending the recent Cross-Straits Economic CooperationForum said that Taiwan businessmen are putting a bigger chunk of their money into the mainland's electronic information sector and view the Yangtze Delta as the up and coming investment center.

Jiang Tianci, executive associate director of the First Sino Bank, said, "Judging from the trends of our clients' capital moves, more and more Taiwan investment is being channeled from the labor-intensive sectors to the technology-intensive."

Jointly established in Shanghai in 1997 by the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Lotus World Wide Limited with a combined capital of 100 million US dollars, the bank is well known for providing financial services to Taiwan enterprises aiming to invest in the mainland.

Statistics show that in 2001, the output of Taiwan enterprises on the mainland specializing in electronic accessories and assembly reached 600 billion New Taiwan Dollars, slightly lower than the 680 billion in Taiwan Island.

Between January and April, over 20 enterprises dealing in semi-conductors, computers and related industries have been started up by Taiwan businessmen on the mainland.

Experts say that it is not an accident that high-tech enterprises, especially those in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, the heart of Taiwan's high-tech industry, are investing in the Yangtze Delta.

Lu Deming, Dean of the Economic Institute of the Fudan University in Shanghai, said, the mainland's lower labor and land costs, abundant human resources and sharpening technical advantages onstitute a huge "magnetic field" which no profit-loving businessmen can afford to miss.

( June 17, 2002)