Chinese mainland opens up more business sectors for Taiwan residents

BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland has further expanded market access for Taiwan residents, allowing them to start individually-owned businesses in 122 sectors including cereal crop farming, fruit planting and beverage manufacturing, compared with the previous 24.

The move is the latest effort to help Taiwan residents seek employment and enjoy the development opportunities on the mainland, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference on Wednesday.

Taiwan residents are welcome to run businesses in 27 pilot areas for innovative development of service trade across the mainland, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hainan, Dalian, Xiamen, Qingdao and Shenzhen, stated a guideline released by the Taiwan affairs office, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration for Market Regulation.

They will benefit from the favorable business environment in the pilot regions, and pursue better development while seizing the market opportunities on the mainland, Zhu noted.

Prior to this new policy, three documents had been unveiled in 2007, 2011 and 2015 to encourage Taiwan residents to seek self-employment on the Chinese mainland.

By the end of 2021, Taiwan residents had registered more than 10,000 self-employed businesses on the mainland.