Bureaus Exclusive

Forum ends, calling more investment in western park

By Huang Zhiling (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-05-08 18:52

CHENGDU - The two-day 2011 Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Culture Forum ended today in this capital of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

The forum, the seventh of its kind between the mainland and Taiwan, drew Jia Qinglin, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung to its opening ceremony.

The forum, proposed by leaders of the two parties and initiated in 2006, has undergone "extraordinary development," Jia said, adding that the previous six forums had played a guiding role in deepening cross-Straits exchanges.

He urged for efforts from both the mainland and Taiwan to further the continuous and steady development of the cross-Straits relations.

Wu said the peaceful development of cross-Straits ties in recent years is precious and should be well cherished, adding that currently relations between the two sides are following the correct direction and must not go backwards.

He said a sound cross-Straits relationship was key to Taiwan's economic development which turned better in recent years.

Cross-Straits trade volume reached $131.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39.7 percent in 2010.

Such topics as the mainland's development blueprint for the 12th Five-Year period (2011-2015) and Taiwan's plan to embrace a "Golden Decade" of development were discussed at the forum.

The forum which attracted about 450 people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits also encouraged an increasing number of Taiwan-based companies to move their production bases to Chengdu as the Chengdu National Cross-Strait Scientific Industry Development Park is the only State-level park of its kind in western China.

The park, set up in 1998 with the approval of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Science and Technology, is one of China’s four State-level cross-Strait scientific industry development parks.

Located in the Wenjiang District of Chengdu, the park whose planned area is 23.5 square kilometers is home to 23 Taiwan firms. Last year, the industrial output value of Taiwan firms in the park registered 2.4 billion yuan.

"Over the next five years, we will encourage more investment in sectors such as financial services, electronic information, and biological medicine," said Dong Chunji, vice-director of the park’s management committee.