Taiwan businesses benefit from joint opportunities

Taiwan business people working on the Chinese mainland said they have experienced great opportunities by participating in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Wang Tien-shan, who works as the general manager of a biotechnology company in Hubei province, said that the initiative brings new opportunities for his business in the international market.

His company helps herbal medicine enterprises from Hubei, Yunnan, and Fujian provinces build quality management systems to monitor their products to expand exports abroad.

"I want to promote our herbal medicine worldwide," Wang said, adding that due to the BRI, the export process of traditional Chinese medicine has been further streamlined and there are increased shipping services.

Another young Taiwan businessman, Hung Hsiao-ho, followed in the footsteps of his father and went to Hainan province in 2012. He works with mainland research institutes in the grouper reproduction industry.

Hung said that his business focuses on breeding high-value fish species in the South China Sea, which not only promotes local economic growth, but also gives locals access to a wider variety of species.

Hung's company participated in a BRI memorandum, under which China donated 100,000 leopard coral grouper fries to the Philippines in 2017 to support the development of the country's aquaculture industry. "With the support and care of the mainland's policy, I can see a future full of opportunities," he said, adding that he will help more young people from Taiwan to settle in Hainan and start their careers.

Zheng Dongping, chairman of the World Taiwan Chambers of Commerce, said after the completion of the China-Europe Railway Express, many business people began to give priority to rail transport as the cost is much lower.

Wu Jung-yuan, chairman of Taiwan's pro-reunification Labor Party, said that the BRI, guided by the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, aims to realize common development. Taiwan enterprises and business people on the mainland can follow the overall development in markets and carry out their global plans, participating in BRI cooperation through various channels, he said.

Luo Jiayuancontributed to this story.