Taiwan Trade Center opens Guangzhou office

The Taiwan Trade Center officially opened its third mainland representative office in the Guangdong provincial capital on Wednesday, with an aim to act as a bridge between Guangdong and Taiwan.

"We opened a representative office in Guangzhou, as the prosperous province of Guangdong in South China has become an important trade partner of Taiwan," said Wang Chih-kang, chairman of the Taiwan Trade Center.

In addition to offering services to the many Taiwan companies in the southern Chinese mainland region, the TTC office will help Guangdong firms explore investment and trade opportunities in Taiwan, Wang told reporters on Wednesday.

Wang said Guangdong deputy Party chief Zhu Mingguo will lead a trade delegation, consisting of business leaders from more than 100 local big-name companies, to visit Taiwan to seek investment opportunities and expand their purchases next year.

"The TTC will go all out to help arrange the visit and seek the right Taiwan companies for Guangdong firms to expand their cooperation and trade," Wang said.

Wang met Zhu on Tuesday to discuss expansion of economic ties between China's biggest island and Guangdong, which has ranked first in the country for GDP for the past 24 years.

Wang said Guangdong purchased more than $51.2 billion worth of products from Taiwan in 2012, representing 39 percent of the mainland's total.

Statistics from the Guangdong provincial department of foreign trade and economic cooperation show the province has registered more than 25,000 Taiwan-funded companies, with investment of more than $52.1 billion.

Last year, import and export value between Guangdong and Taiwan reached more than $58.62 billion, up year-on-year 12 percent and accounting for one-third of the mainland's total.

The TTC will open another three representative offices in Qingdao, Shandong province; Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province; and Dalian, Liaoning province before the end of the year.

The TTC opened its Beijing and Shanghai representative offices last year.