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New policies issued to boost cross-Straits trade (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-04-15 15:53 Participants at
the forum advocated healthy and orderly tourist cooperation across the
Taiwan Straits.
It's the common expectation of the compatriots across
the Straits to allow the mainland tourists to visit Taiwan, promote the
personnel exchanges across the Straits and boost the economy across the Straits,
according to the participants.
Allowing the mainland tourists to visit
Taiwan will help boom the tourist and service industries in Taiwan and stabilize
and rejuvenate the economy in Taiwan, said the participants.
They advise
the mainland issue the management measures for the mainland tourists to visit
Taiwan, and the Taiwan authorities should approve negotiation activities between
unofficial Taiwan tourist organizations and the mainland-based association for
tourist exchanges across the Taiwan Straits.
They pressed for direct
flights across the Taiwan Straits and pledged to make joint efforts to push
forward the issue, making it more convenient for the current cross-strait
chartered flights and ensuring these flights to be carried out during festivals
and weekends and on a regular base.
Non-governmental aviation
associations of the two sides should hold talks on the issue of aerial routes as
early as possible, so as to set up more convenient routes for direct flights
across the straits, according to the Joint Proposal.
The two sides are
urged to follow the example of "Macao Talks" which found resolutions for the
2005 Spring Festival chartered passenger flights.
At the opening of the
forum, KMT Honorary Chairman Lien Chan, head of a KMT delegation, told the
audience that it took him eight and a half hours to fly from Taibei to Beijing.
In addition, the participants also called for further expanding direct
cargo shipping between Fujian and Taiwan provinces.
They urged the
Taiwan Authorities to allow farm products to be directly shipped to the mainland
from Taiwan ports like Kaohsiung, in order to reduce cost and loss. The mainland
opened its market to Taiwan farmers last year.
Participants also called
for the Taiwan authorities to allow the financial institutions from the Chinese
mainland to set up branch offices in Taiwan.
The Chinese mainland
also promised to provide more convenience for the small and medium-sized
enterprises from Taiwan to raise fund for operation, according to the Joint
Proposals.
The financial institutions on the both sides across the
Straits were encouraged to carry out discussions and research on setting up a
financial supervision mechanism and on the technical preparations to do business
across the Straits, say the proposals.
In addition, the financial
practitioners from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan were promoted to hold
professional trainings and academic exchanges to share their experiences of
development, say the proposals.
Besides, measures would be taken to
support the Taiwan service industry to enter the Chinese mainland's market,
strengthen the cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation in the fields of
communication and information industries and push forward making common
standards for the information industry on the both sides of the Straits, say the
proposals.
The Chinese mainland would take further step to boost the
economic exchanges and cooperation between the "west bank of the Straits" with
Taiwan.
The Joint Proposals also press for direct flights and healthy
and orderly tourism cooperation across the Taiwan Straits.
About 500
people, including the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan, four
vice-chairmen of the KMT, officials of the New Party and the People First Party,
as well as business people, officials and scholars from both sides of the Taiwan
Strait, attended the forum.
Taiwan authorities urged
to implement agreement
Vice President Wu Po-hsiung of
the Taiwan-based Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party asked here Saturday the Taiwan
authorities led by the Democratic Progressive Party to implement the proposals
put forward by the cross-Straits economic and trade forum.
On the basis
of the "1992 consensus," the institutionalized exchanges between the mainland
and Taiwan should be resumed, said Wu at the closing ceremony of the two-day
forum.
The "1992 consensus" says that both sides across the Taiwan
Straits accept the "one-China principle," but with their own
interpretations.
The economic and trade ties on the basis of mutual
benefit and win-win principle should be built across the Taiwan Straits, and the
two sides should hold such economic and trade forums regularly in the future, he
said.
During the forum, the Chinese mainland announced a new package of
policies to promote economic and trade relations across the Taiwan Straits on
Saturday.
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