Pingtan authorities extend support to island's residents, enterprises to settle in mainland county

Pingtan, a remote island off the coast of Fujian province, is working to deepen its links with Taiwan by establishing an innovative administrative and economic system.

As the nearest area on the Chinese mainland to Taiwan, Pingtan was home to more than 3,000 Taiwan residents and 863 Taiwan companies in July.

The local government is taking action to meet their demands.

Wu Yu-lin from Taiwan works at the Pingtan Taiwan Entrepreneurship Park as deputy general manager of cross-Straits travel agency Grand China Air Group.

He said many Taiwan businesspeople or entrepreneurs have decided to invest or work in Fujian province because they want to make more money in a broader market.

"In that sense, we need more access to resources, investors or business partners," he said.

He added that people in certain fields would find more job opportunities.

"People majoring in traditional Chinese medicine, for example, find it easier to be hired on the mainland."

However, among Taiwan's 25 million residents, 15 million have never visited the mainland, he said.

"Many of them dare not come because they don't know what it is like here. They had concerns and worries," he said. "The problem lies in lack of information."

The company plans to release a new app in September to provide information about the preferential policies, as well as recruitment, entrepreneurship and internship opportunities, as sourced from official departments.

It will also provide online services, including applications for temporary driving licenses, telephone cards and the Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents.

As the first online service platform designed for Taiwan clients in China, the app is among the 23 innovative initiatives launched by Pingtan this year, according to the local government.

Other administrative innovations include the certification of Taiwan ship technical licenses and direct channels for Taiwan residents to take out social insurance, it said.

In 2015, Pingtan was approved to be one area of the China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone, with an emphasis on further opening-up cross-Straits communication.

Fifty-five of the area's 123 innovative policies have been considered pioneering reforms in China.

Zhang Zhaomin, Party chief of the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, said it expects to attract more than 200,000 Taiwan tourists, as well as drawing about 10,000 of the island's residents to live or work in the county by 2021.

By that date, the number of registered Taiwan-invested companies is expected to reach 2,000, with a total investment value of $20 billion, he said.

As a gate to Taiwan, Pingtan is exploring more possibilities related to integrating industrial standards. More than 300 Taiwan people with Taiwan-certificated licenses are permitted to work in fields such as architecture, healthcare and tourism in the zone, he said.

The local authorities have released preferential policies for Taiwan-funded companies or residents from the island who have settled in Pingtan.

According to Wu, companies have received government allowances ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 yuan ($227-$379) per Taiwan person recruited per month.

More subsidization and services were given to professionals who want to start their own business, including accommodation, rental and financial guarantees.

The entrepreneurship park, where Wu lives, received an allowance of 4.66 million yuan by July to serve Taiwan people, said Chen Qin, manager of Cross-Straits Development Co, which runs the Pingtan Taiwan Entrepreneurship Park.

Since it was founded in 2015, the park has been devoted to incubating startups involved in the high-tech industry, cross-border e-commerce, modern services and creative culture.

The park offers legal, financial and policy consultancy services to promote local businesses. Other services include patent filings and human resources, Chen said.

By Aug 15, a total of 366 companies and organizations had settled in the zone, of which half are from Taiwan. Among the 1,000 Taiwan people in the park, 83 percent are under 45 years old, she said.

Party chief Zhang said the zone will further strengthen its support for young people from Taiwan to launch startups or find jobs in Pingtan, and it will improve the services on offer for these entrepreneurship bases.

The zone will also approve all the Taiwan-certificated licenses in the service trade industry, build communities with management models similar to that in Taiwan and open more direct cargo flights.

"We will further promote the opening-up of Pingtan to better serve the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations," he said.

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(China Daily 08/30/2017 page5)