Soong shows desire for peaceful ties
By Jiao Xiaoyang (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-05-09 06:18

SHANGHAI: People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong told Taiwanese investors yesterday he will adhere to a peaceful approach in cross-Straits relations and step up efforts to promote Taiwanese businesses on the mainland.

Although the theme of Soong's trip peace and reconciliation is the same as that of the Kuomintang (KMT) delegation which ended its visit to the mainland just days ago, the PFP is more focused on business, Soong said at a lunch forum with Taiwanese businesspeople in Shanghai.

Taiwan's People First Party leader James Soong delivers a speech to a group of Taiwan business people operating in the Yangtze Delta region of east China. [Xinhua]

"Both sides of the Taiwan Straits should be venues for industry and commerce instead of war fields," he said.

His party will communicate with the mainland to ensure Taiwanese investors enjoy a sound business climate, simplified cross-Straits trade and good services in education, employment and family life, Soong said.

Experts say what many Taiwanese investors most desire are direct trade, mail and transport links, or "three links" between the island and the mainland. At present, passenger and cargo transport between the two sides has to go via Hong Kong.

"The unnecessary transit costs us a lot of time and money, and we hope the visits of Lien (KMT Chairman Lien Chan) and Soong speed up the formation of the 'three links'," said Captain Lee, a Taiwanese investor in Yiwu of Zhejiang Province.

Soong acknowledged the importance of close business ties between the two sides.

Taiwanese businesses have poured more than US$500 billion into the mainland since 1979.

"Taiwan business people on the mainland have not only made money but also contributed greatly to Taiwan's industrial upgrade and growing economic clout in the world," said Soong.

He also spoke highly of Shanghai, now home to more than 200,000 Taiwanese investors.

"Without coming to Shanghai, there is no way to understand the merits of the mainland's policy of reform and opening up and Taiwan investors' longing for 'three links'," Soong said.

"Nor could we understand the potential of Chinese mainland's growth and the importance of a scenario of co-existence and common prosperity for both sides of the Straits without being in Shanghai," he added.

But many see the historic visits by the PFP and KMT chairmen as something more than a business opportunity. "Besides exchanges in economic and social aspects, the visits made something of a beginning to a political solution to the situation across the Straits," said Tzu-Yin Chiu, vice-president of operations of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.

(China Daily 05/09/2005 page2)

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