Taiwan said to open five sectors to China by year end

Taiwan is aiming to open five sectors of its economy to mainland Chinese by the end of the year, as part of a campaign by a new China-friendly administration to boost growth, media reported on Saturday.

The five areas are the financial, economic, transport, human resources and land sectors, Taiwan's two Chinese language business dailies reported, citing Premier Liu Chao-shiuan.

Not included was the real estate sector, the Economic Daily reported, although the two-month-old administration of President Ma Ying-jeou has said it would eventually like to open that sector to mainland investors as well.

Liu's announcement was the latest in a string of new policy initiatives announced by the fledgling Ma administration aimed at boosting the local economy by forging closer ties with the fast-growing Chinese economy.

China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan as its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and pledged to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.

Despite the political rivalry, Taiwan and China have forged close economic ties over the last 20 years, and Taiwan now counts China as its largest export market. Taiwan firms have also pumped an estimated $100 billion (50.2 billion pounds) or more into their mainland investments over the last two decades.

But the flow of capital has been largely one way, with little or no Chinese investment in Taiwan largely due to government restrictions.

Ma's administration is trying to change that, however, in a bid to attract some of the billions of dollars held by Chinese financial institutions and institutional investors.

Along similar lines, Ma's administration signed a landmark agreement in June opening Taiwan to millions of newly affluent mainland tourists, aiming to bring their dollars to the island to boost the local tourism sector.