Taiwan-invested businesses in Guangzhou embrace new opportunities

Taiwan-invested businesses in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, have been embracing new opportunities in the mainland by expanding into new fields.

iStone, which launched its jade ornament manufacturing facility in Guangzhou's Huadu district in 1990, is expanding its stone mineral park to step up its cultural and tourism division.

Opened in 2008, the park is receiving about 1 million visitors a year, which helps sell the company's jade products, said Su I-fang, general manager of iStone.

"Chinese people love jade, which is closely related to Chinese history and culture. I think we need to go deeper in developing our products to turn them into a national treasure and name card," said Su Mu-qing, chairman of the company.

Tourism will have a broader and deeper prospect if combined with culture, he said.

With development in the mainland, information and technological innovation industries mark the mainstream and direction of future development. Taiwan enterprises experienced such issues 30 years ago and have their strength in these industries. They can play a role in leading some traditional industries toward the new direction, said Hau Lung-bin, vice chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang party.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area being built is set to attract more Taiwan businesses and youths to start businesses or to work, he said at the opening ceremony of a summit of heads of Taiwan business associations held in Guangzhou on Wednesday.

Taiwan-invested businesses have exceeded 28,000 in Guangdong province and 100,000 in the mainland, said Zhang Shihong, chief of the Economic Services Bureau of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Since February, when the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council issued 31 measures for enhancing exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan, 22 localities have announced more measures for the same purpose, he said.

Making a foray into Guangzhou's commercial property market in 1989, the Guangzhou branch of Taiwan's KP Group launched its property management company amid heated competition in the property market five years ago, said general manager Warren Chang.

Its property management company scored at the top in terms of the service quality among its peers in Zengcheng district, Guangzhou, last year, Chang said, adding potential lies in this sector.

Chang listed medical cosmetology, cultural creativity, tourism and sport as some of the fields with opportunities to Taiwan investors.

Anglee, a skincare product maker, which established its facility in Guangzhou in 1991, has opened three medical cosmetology shops in Guangzhou and aims for an initial public offering in the mainland to fund more such shops, which are also beauty parlors, said chairman Aaron Lin.

Great demand exists for such shops in the mainland, Lin said, adding that amid competition and fast changing consumer preference in the skincare product market in the mainland, the company has taken rapid actions in innovation and production.

Daysun started producing safety goggles, mainly for exportation, in Guangzhou in 1989, opened a hotel later and is running an art museum, which caters to young artists from both sides of the Taiwan Straits, along its path of transformation, said Chairman Wang Ching-Hsiang.

Wang took the post of chairman of the Taiwan Enterprises Association of Guangzhou on Tuesday.

Recalling the history of Taiwan investment in Guangzhou, he said processing businesses was the major part in the initial stage and was followed by those in the service industry.

Since 1984, Guangzhou city government had approved 3,251 Taiwan-invested projects by the end of June, which involves total investment of $21.93 billion and employs about 200,000 people. More than 20,000 Taiwan businesspeople and their family members live in Guangzhou, according to official statistics.

Wang's association recently launched a service center, which helps Taiwan businesspeople understand new policies, including the 60-point measures issued recently by the Guangzhou city government to boost exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan, and address issues, such as compliance with the new environmental standards.