Taiwan exports to mainland booming after ECFA

The World Competitiveness Yearbook, published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne of Switzerland, raised the ranking of Taiwan's economy from the eighth in world in 2010 to sixth in 2011.

According to the island's economic department, economic growth of Taiwan was 10 percent in 2010 and private investment increased by 33 percent from 2009.

Bill Wiseman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, told Xinhua that the ECFA had been "extremely successful."

Due to the close cultural and language links across the Taiwan Strait, a number of companies can use Taiwan as a platform to enter the mainland or increase sales there, Wiseman said.

"Japanese companies seemed to have capitalized on this," he said. "Japanese are quite a bit ahead of American multinationals, in terms of using ECFA as a platform to enter the mainland market."

Taiwan has about 1.23 million small and medium-sized companies, accounting for 98 percent of the total.

The export increase after ECFA was implemented has largely benefited small firms, said Roscher Lin, chairman of Taiwan Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

Since the mainland has become a huge consumer market with the increasing personal incomes, a large number of small firms in Taiwan, which used to export to Europe and North America, have turned to the mainland, Lin said.

"The tariff cut in the early harvest program has given Taiwan suppliers a sharp advantage in the competition with other foreign companies," he said.

The ECFA also created a favorable policy environment for both mainland and Taiwan companies to invest in each other's side, he added.

Under the ECFA, the mainland also opened 11 service sectors to Taiwan companies including accounting, computer services, hospitals, banking, securities, insurance and film industry.

"Companies have seen a good chance to invest in service sectors in more developed coastal regions on the mainland," Lin said.

The computer manufacturing and IT industries, though not substantially covered by the ECFA, have seen positive industry cooperation across the Strait.