When a delegation from the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office paid a visit to the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, in Fujian province, on Sept 9, headed by its deputy director Gong Qinggai, it was a good choice since probably no one knows Pingtan better than Gong, who was the head of zone administration before th current head, Li Dejin, took over last October.

Still, even Gong was amazed by how much Pingtan has changed in a year, after his promotion to the Taiwan Affairs Office. For example, at the Haixia Passenger Terminal, he had to ask a string of questions about customs clearances, logistics and storage facilities.

He did say that Pingtan needs to take advantage of favorable central and provincial government policies to build a transport hub for Taiwan’s products and that his office will see to it that Pingtan’ needs are met and that things go smoothly during its development.

He went on to say that people are bullish about the Taiwan Commodities Market and that authorities need to increase its scale and make it a major tourism destination.

Pingtan is working on regular cross-Straits cargo routes and is doing its best to attract investment in the hopes of attracting more Taiwan’s enterprises.

Taking part in the visit were Wei Yin-Heng, vice-chairman of the board of Taiwan’s Ting Hsin International Group, who said they are looking forward to cooperating with Pingtan and to making the customs procedures faster.

Ting Hsin is a large instant noodle maker, founded in 1996, with the famous Kang Shi Fu brand and nearly 24,000 employees. It has 55 subsidiaries, 34 factories, three hypermarkets, and 31 restaurants.