Everyone knows that Fujian will play the card of cooperating with Taiwan in its free trade zone (FTZ) blueprint.

The proximity to each other and deep-rooted cultural similarities have both contributed to the flourishing communication and collaboration between Fujian and Taiwan over a long period.

With the establishment of the FTZ in Fujian - namely parts of Pingtan, Fuzhou and Xiamen – deepened cooperation will be made with an explosion of business opportunities, said insiders.

“The FTZ is of great significance to Fujian, as it will strengthen its attractiveness to Taiwan. More investment from Taiwan will be realized and the FTZ will serve as a springboard for Fujian’s enterprises to go global,” said Yuan Jianliang, chief of the Fujian branch of the China Development Bank.

The sentiment is echoed by He Mingjun, assistant chairman of a Taiwan-funded medical equipment producer based in Xiamen, who added that the wide FTZ coverage in Fuzhou, Pingtan and Xiamen is a signal to Taiwan for more economic and trading communications.

The Shanghai Pilot FTZ, in its first year of operation from Sept 2013 to Sept 2014, attracted 157 Taiwan-funded companies with a total registered capital of 270 million US dollars. Shanghai saw its export and import trade volume with Taiwan soar over 5.7 billion US dollars in 2013.

The numbers are more encouraging in Fujian. Figures showed that from Jan to Nov 2014, a total of 389 Taiwan-funded enterprises settled in the province for the first time, an increase of 75 percent year on year. Currently 23 percent of overseas-funded companies in Fujian are from Taiwan, which is almost triple the average level on the Chinese mainland.

Many experts have proposed that Fujian and Taiwan can explore a new cooperation mode based on their own free trade parks in a bid to facilitate trade.

“Through the FTZs, Fujian and Taiwan can carry out more cooperation in shipping logistics, financial services, commercial service, cultural industry and so on,” said Zhang Guangping, head of the Topology Research Institute in Taiwan.