Fujian's pilot FTZ seeks trade ties with Taiwan

The Fujian Pilot Free Trade Zone looks forward to building stronger business ties with its neighbor Taiwan and other investors by further facilitating trade, using the negative list and enhancing cooperation in the service industry.

According to the recent announcement by the State Council, China's Cabinet, on deepening FTZ reform, Fujian will further enhance financial cooperation with Taiwan, including in currency clearing and settlement and allowing qualified Taiwan insurance institutions to set up branches in the FTZ.

Since its beginning in 2014, the Fujian FTZ has focused on building strong trade ties with Taiwan.

"After three years of hard work, the Pingtan district has generally implemented the negative list system," says Lin Li, assistant director of the FTZ office in the Pingtan district of the provincial FTZ. A negative list names industries in which investment is limited or restricted.

"The trade supervision system is made to serve trade facilitation and the financial system is made to serve the real economy," Lin says.

Chen Xiangquan, general manager of the Pingtan branch of Taiwan logistics company Wagon, says the facilitation measures have benefited the company.

"Only Pingtan can issue a special business license. What you need to do is to register online, and the registration can be done in a few hours," he says.

Shi Minghao, former chairman of Tradevan, which provides clearance and cross-border electronic transaction services, told local TV news station Xiamen Star: "The capital market in Taiwan started earlier and is mature. If the two sides can work together, there will be potential for a win-win situation. I think that in the services industry, more Taiwan companies will show up in Xiamen."

As of the end of September, the number of companies from Taiwan that had registered in the Fujian FTZ stood at 2,185, bringing a total investment of $6 billion (5.3 billion euros; ￡4.7 billion).

A cross-border e-commerce industrial park is also a highlight of the Fujian FTZ. According to the Fuzhou Bonded Area, the park is home to a number of established e-commerce companies such as eBay, Alibaba and Cainiao.

In 2017, the area imported 640,700 orders of bonded goods through crossborder e-commerce merchants, up by 136.7 percent year-on-year. The sale of the goods netted 210 million yuan ($30 million; 26 million euros; ￡23 million), up by 124 percent year-on-year.