Chinese mainland promotes implementation of preferential policies for Taiwan: spokesperson

BEIJING - The Chinese mainland will continue to promote the implementation of the 31 preferential policies for Taiwan, An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a press conference Wednesday.

The 31 preferential policies, introduced by the Chinese mainland during the Fifth Straits Forum in Southeast China's Xiamen in 2013, cover the fields of legal rights, education, culture, and tourism, and are aimed at improving the lives of all Taiwan people.

Shanghai Credit Information Services and China Credit Information Service have established a platform where financial institutions on the mainland can search for credit information of enterprises and individuals in Taiwan, allowing Taiwan enterprises and individuals to obtain finance on the mainland, An said.

East China's Jiangsu province has been actively supporting applications from Taiwan-funded enterprises for provincial technological projects or to be listed as high-tech enterprises.

So far, nearly 700 Taiwan-funded high-tech enterprises in Jiangsu enjoy a preferential corporate income tax of 15 percent. Two Taiwan-funded enterprises received a total of 9.5 million yuan ($1.5 million) of funding to commercialize research findings, An said.

By April 20, 27 higher learning institutions in Central China's Hubei province had provided a total of 582 teaching jobs for Taiwan people.

In terms of youth entrepreneurship, the 53 cross-Straits entrepreneurship bases and pilot sites nationwide had served nearly 1,900 Taiwan-funded enterprises and teams, and provided internships and jobs for nearly 9,000 Taiwan youth as of the end of 2017, according to An.

Recently the Taiwan Affairs Office set up 22 new such entrepreneurship bases and pilot sites in 15 provincial-level regions, including Tianjin and Shanghai. This brought the total number of the bases and sites to 75 nationwide.

An also noted other preferential policies regarding financial cooperation across the Straits and policy subsidies for Taiwan-funded enterprises in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.