The central government plans to relax restrictions on
small-scale trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan to boost
economic and trade exchanges across the Taiwan Straits.
The policy will take effect next month in some pilot ports on
the eastern and southern coast, Wang Xinpei, spokesman for the
Ministry of Commerce, told a press briefing Thursday.
The regulation was jointly published by the Ministry of Commerce
and the General Administration of Customs.
Small-scale trade, initiated in 1993, is the only type in the
form of direct shipping between the two sides across the Taiwan
Straits. It is supplementary to trade exchanges and plays an active
role in communications between the two sides.
Small-scale trade constitutes a tiny part of cross-Straits
trade, though no official figures are available.
Under the new policy, restrictions will be lifted on the tonnage
of ships from Taiwan - now set at 100 tons - and the value of a
single deal - now less than US$100,000, Wang said.
The first batch of pilot ports includes:
Shenjiamen in Zhoushan and Shipu in Ningbo, both in Zhejiang
Province;
Mawei in Fuzhou and Shijinggang in Quanzhou, both in Fujian
Province; and
Huizhou in Guangdong Province.
Wang said the commercial departments in Fujian, Zhejiang and
Guangdong provinces and some designated cities will be allowed to
approve the business scope of mainland companies that conduct
small-scale trade with Taiwan.
Previously, these businesses could get approval only from
commercial departments authorized by the Ministry of Commerce.
Trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan stood at $66.17
billion in the first seven months of this year, up 12.6 percent
from a year earlier, according to Ministry of Commerce
statistics.
(China Daily September 28, 2007)