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Taiwan investment in mainland reached $46b over 20 years

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-10 10:46

An economic study group has found that in the 20 years since cross-strait investment formally opened, Taiwan investors have put $46.1 billion into the mainland.

The figure, for the period through the end of February, accounted for about 6 percent of the overseas capital that flowed into the mainland during that period, said Li Shuilin, head of the Association of Economy and Trade Across the Taiwan Strait, a non-governmental mainland institution.

China has approved more than 75,000 Taiwan-funded enterprises over the past 20 years, Li told an ongoing Taiwan-oriented trade fair held in Xiamen.

However, Li Fei, a professor at the Taiwan research center of Xiamen University, told the audience that investment from Taiwan may have exceeded $100 billion if indirect capital movements are included.

In 2007, the mainland approved 3,299 projects with Taiwan investment and actual investment reached $1.77 billion, down 12.1 percent and 20.4 percent, respectively, year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Taiwan is the mainland's seventh-largest trade partner, ninth-largest export market and fifth-largest import market.