Mainland Credit for Taiwanese Companies
This is a very significant move for cross-strait business ties.
Excerpted from AFP:
China pledged Sunday to offer up to 600 billion yuan ($95 billion) in credit to Taiwanese companies on the mainland as it furthered its campaign for reunification. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Development Bank will be authorised to make the loans.
“In order to help Taiwanese enterprises develop, mainland banks… will offer a 600 billion yuan credit ceiling over the next three to four years,” Wang Yi, head of the cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office, said in a speech at the Straits Forum annual meeting in Xiamen aimed at bolstering ties between China and Taiwan.
Trade between China and Taiwan has boomed over the past two decades, increasing by 10 percent last year to $160 billion, according to China’s trade ministry. Taiwan has been a major investor in China in recent years, providing more than $100 billion in finance, according to some estimates, as well as offering crucial technological know-how.