China approves straits economic zone

The State Council passed a plan on Thursday to support development of an economic zone on the western side of the Taiwan Straits.

"This means that Fujian will get more policy support from the central government. The economic zone will not only boost economic development across the Straits, but also enhance communication between the two sides and contribute to the peaceful reunification of China,” Wu Nengyuan, director of the Fujian-based Institute of Taiwan Studies, told China Daily.

The straits economic zone will fuel economic development in Taiwan and the mainland's coastal regions, and become another engine of economic growth, just as other major economic zones in China have, such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Zhujiang River Delta, the Beibu Bay and the Bohai Rim Economic Zones.

The province of Fujian will act as the hub of the economic zone, which will face Taiwan across the Straits and connect with the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, two economic powerhouses on the mainland.

Fujian's provincial government raised the plan to build an economic zone on the western side of the Straits as early as 2004. The proposal is designed to attract businesses from Taiwan and promote cross-Straits exchanges.

Fujian boasts geographic proximity to the island and shares ancestral origins, languages, folk customs and cultural traditions with Taiwan, Wu said.

Fujian has been one of the largest markets for investment from Taiwan since the 1980s, when people from Taiwan started to run businesses on the mainland.

Since then, Fujian has attracted more than $20 billion in investment from the island, according to statistics from Fujian's Taiwan affairs office. Taiwan has become the second largest offshore investor for Fujian this year, following Hong Kong.

Such a plan for the zone was due to "more forceful measures" that needed to be taken under the new circumstance of positive changes in cross-Straits relations, according to the meeting presided by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The zone would become a frontier platform to boost industrial and cultural exchanges across the Straits, according to the plan.

Plan guidelines state the country would speed up infrastructure construction in the region to meet the demand for the "three direct links".

The mainland and Taiwan started historic direct flights, postal and shipping services on December 15, 2008, ending a 59-year ban on such links.

The new economic zone would aim to foster development of industries of specific characteristics, the State Council said without elaboration.

Regional coordination and cross-province cooperation would be stressed in the region to accelerate regional development, both in urban and rural areas, according to the plan. In addition, the zone would be able to carry out tryouts of major reforms, as a system for innovation would be established.

The plan will go through some revisions before the details are made public by the State Council.

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