New preferential policies on Taiwan released(2)

SOURCE OF EXCITEMENT

The preferential policies announced on Sunday have drawn wide attentions from both sides of the strait.

Many delegates from Taiwan said the decision to allow residents in 13 mainland cities to apply for individual tourism to Taiwan would send ripples of excitement across the island.

Chang His-tsung, a spokesman for Taiwan tourism authority, called the 13 cities "top choices" in an interview with Xinhua.

The cities are located in different regions of the mainland and the choice fully considered the convenience of cross-Strait flights, Chang said.

Wang Hongyuan, head of China Quanzhou International Techno-Economic Cooperation (group) Taiwan branch, was glad to see Quanzhou on the list as more than seven million Taiwan compatriots have their ancestral homes as well as relatives in the city in Fujian Province.

"I have often been asked when people from Quanzhou could visit Taiwan independently, and now it comes true," he said.

Syu Kuen-chin, a Taiwan expert on trade and employment market, said the over-crowded job market on the island had prompted many graduates there to consider "going west" and seeking a job on the mainland.

"The mainland's favorable policy will certainly attract more Taiwanese students to the mainland for education and career," Syu said.

PEOPLE ORIENTATION

Experts on Taiwan affairs said the latest policy package focuses on improving the wellbeing of ordinary Taiwanese, including those having settled down on the mainland or local Taiwanese who have close ties with the mainland.

"The most salient feature of this year's preferential policies is touching down to the grassroots and focusing on the livelihood issues," said Zhang Wensheng, professor at the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University.

Zhang praised the policies of being "subtle and considerate" and comprehensive, covering areas from educational cooperation to copyright trading to direct flights.

"The new policies will make cross-Strait communication more convenient and promote cultural integration, reflecting the people-orientated mentality of the cross-Strait exchanges," he said.

The latest policy package add to the total 124 such Taiwan-friendly policies released at the Straits Forum since it was initiated in 2008 as a major platform to further grassroots exchanges between the mainland and Taiwan.

As direct beneficiaries of the improving mainland-Taiwan relations, the ordinary Taiwanese are becoming supporters of this trend, according to Zhang.

"Taiwanese at the grassroots level are realizing their interests are closely tied to the cross-Straits relations and thus becoming the social foundation of the cross-Strait peaceful development," Zhang said.