Taiwan Gets Huge Mainland Trade Surplus

Taiwan has reaped a huge indirect trade surplus near US$116 billion from the mainland, said Zhang Mingqing, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, at a press conference called Tuesday afternoon on cross-straits trade and exchanges.

According to statistics from the Customs, cross-straits indirect trade in the first half of this year ran to a total worth of US$14.037 billion, an increase of 31.7 % over the same period last year. Of these, comparing an import amount of US$11.624 registering a growth of 30.8% from Taiwan, mainland export to Taiwan showed merely a worth of US$2.414 billion or a 36.4% increase over the same period of last year.

During the first six months, Taiwan-funded projects approved on the mainland reached 1,399 or 13.65% more than last year. Meanwhile, a total of US$1.992 billion of contract value, 31.29% up, with an actual amount of US$1.03 billion of 16.95% less being used than the same period of last year, were reported by Taiwan investment.

As to exchanges of personnel, Taiwan compatriots admitted for many a varied missions on the mainland as for sightseeing, calling on friends, visiting relatives, doing business and other activities totaled 1.378 million, 29.15% more over the same period of last year. But against these were merely an insignificant number of 50,600 mainlanders that had been allowed into Taiwan.

Up to the end of June this year, cross-straits indirect trade had registered an accumulated total of over US$174.4 billion worth, of which over US$28.4 billion were mainland exports to Taiwan and over US$146 billion of mainland imports from Taiwan. It goes without saying this has given an indirect trade surplus of about US$116 billion to Taiwan. As things stand in China today, on the mainland there are now as many as 45,353 Taiwan invested enterprises operating with a contract value of US$ 45.756 billion and a sum total of 24.89 billion being actually used.

China will adopt measures to further strengthen cross-straits contacts and cooperation and promote direct links of trade, mail, air and shipping services to boost culture exchanges and interflow of personnel across the Taiwan Straits, said the spokesman.



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