China’s TV-panel procurement delegation said yesterday that it had placed US$2.2 billion in orders from Taiwanese suppliers during its one-week visit here, fulfilling a promise it made at the end of last year.
The Chinese delegation also said it would fulfill a promise it made during the Cross-Strait Flat Panel Display Industry Cooperation Seminar, held on June 2 in Taipei, to place orders worth a total of US$4.4 billion from Taiwanese suppliers for the whole year.
The delegation, which consists of nine leading Chinese color TV companies, visited three major Taiwanese flat-panel makers, including Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), before heading back to China today.
Delegation leader Bai Weimin (白為民), who is also secretary-general of the China Video Industry Association (CVIA, 中國電子視像行業協會), yesterday said the delegation spent a whole day visiting each of the three major Taiwanese flat-panel makers.
Bai said the group visited the production lines of the three companies and checked out their latest products, such as 3D flat panels.
Bai expressed the hope that China’s color TV makers and Taiwan’s flat-panel makers could collaborate not only on panel procurement, but also on the development of new technologies.
“Only deeper cooperation can help reduce costs more effectively and produce products with better competitiveness,” Bai said.
Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) chairman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said China’s color TV makers and Taiwan’s flat-panel makers were complementary to each other, and called on both sides to create uniform product standards, which could become world standards.
In separate news, Teco Group (東元集團) may boost its investments in China’s Jiangxi Province as it plans to bid to participate in a railway system extension in the capital city, the Central News Agency quoted the province’s Taiwan Affairs Office as saying.
Teco expressed great interest in investing in the Nanchang railway construction via share acquisition, potential share swaps or fresh capital injection, the report quoted Xinhua news as saying.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER.
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