The Cabinet is working to liberalize several major cross-strait trade policies, with direct charter cargo flights between the two sides a priority, an industry representative said yesterday after a meeting with Premier Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh said the government has "no problem" with starting cross-strait direct charter cargo flights, and the policy should be taken care of prior to other cross-strait affairs being finalized, Theodore Huang (黃茂雄), chairman of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (工商協進會), said at a press briefing yesterday.
Huang said the premier has not set a timetable for the flights to start. But from a business point of view, the plan should be realized as soon as possible to benefit Taiwanese companies, he said.
Taiwan and China were mulling negotiations over cargo flights after the success of historic direct charter flights for Taiwanese businesspeople in China during the Lunar New Year holiday this year, but the plan was suspended after China passed its "Anti-Secession" Law in March.
Under the principle of its "active opening, efficient management" trade policy, the Cabinet is also considering lowering the China-bound investment cap, Huang said, quoting chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission Kong Jaw-sheng (龔照勝), who also attended the breakfast meeting.
Local publicly listed companies' investments in China are not allowed to exceed 40 percent of their net value under the current investment regulations. Consequently, many companies sidestepped the regulations by listing in Hong Kong or investing in China through a third destination such as the Cayman or Virgin Islands.
Huang said the best way to sort out under-the-table China-bound investments would be to modify the regulations. But he stressed that reducing the net value cap needs to be discussed with the Mainland Affairs Council.
Hsieh also welcomed Beijing's intention of allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.
Thomas Yeh (葉明峰), vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, who also attended yesterday's meeting, said China's willingness to allow more of its citizens to visit Taiwan will help accomplish the government's goal to double the number of foreign visitors to Taiwan by 2008.
The government in 2002 started accepting applications from certain groups of Chinese people to visit Taiwan, including those who obtained the right of residence from foreign countries, those who have relatives here and professionals conducting interchanges with Taiwan.
But as some 0.2 percent of Chinese visitors stay behind illegally in Taiwan every year, according to Immigration Office statistics, the government needs to establish a repatriation agreement with Beijing before the cargo flights start, Yeh said.
Another cross-strait issue discussed during the meeting was increasing Taiwan's agriculture exports to China, which Hsieh also agreed to, as long as Taiwan still controls key agricultural tech-nology, Huang said.
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