CHENGDU -- Experts and business insiders from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan are expecting a brilliant future for the upgrading of cross-Strait cooperation in industrial sectors, especially in the emerging industries and the service industry.
The mainland's development blueprint for the 12th Five-Year-Plan period (2011-2015) has presented great opportunities for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to enhance and deepen their industrial cooperation, Zhang Guanhua, deputy director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said at a discussion with the seventh Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum which opened here Saturday.
Zhang said the cooperation in the service industry is very likely to become one of the new highlights in the cross-Strait economic ties, whereas previously cross-Strait cooperation in the industry sectors was heavily focused on the manufacturing end.
To transform the economic development pattern and promote the service industry is among the key goals set down in the mainland's 12th Five-Year Plan, and this goal is also in line with other focuses in the plan, such as boosting domestic demands and adjusting the industrial structure, he said.
Taiwan has a relevantly mature service industry, as well as the willingness to explore the mainland market, and the two sides joining hands in this field will further expand the room for cross-Strait industrial cooperation, he said.
Zhang also noted the opportunities for joint efforts in developing the emerging industries, such as the new energy industry and biotechnology industry.
These are the goals in common set by the mainland's 12th Five-Year Plan and Taiwan's "golden decade" blueprint (2011-2020), and any possible achievements of cooperation in these fields are likely to help the two sides get an edge in the international market, he said.
Zhang's remarks were echoed by other experts from Taiwan.
Innovation in the service industry, as well as cooperation in industries of energy, environmental protection and biotechnology, will help to promote a long-term development of industry sectors on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, said Liu Da-Nien, research fellow with the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, a Taipei-based economic think tank.
The development plans of the two sides have displayed many significant views in common and these would help both sides to reach consensus and enhance mutual trust, Chuang Yin-Chyi, professor with the Taiwan-based Chengchi University's Department of Economics, told Xinhua.
Moreover, Chuang said the two sides of the Strait have promising prospects in technology communications and joint brand promotion efforts in the international market.
The peaceful development of the cross-Strait relations has become a mainstream of public opinions on both sides of the Strait, and it is also a favorable element for the two sides' industrial cooperation, Zhang Guanhua said.
The signing and implementation of the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) is a good platform for the two sides to accelerate such cooperation, he added.
