(Year-end Feature) Cross-Strait Economic and Trade 2020: Rise against the trend and lay out the future

　　China News Service, Beijing, 23 December

　　Author Xuefeng Li

　　In 2020, despite the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and deliberate obstruction by the DPP authorities, cross-strait economic and trade growth will continue to buck the trend.

In particular, the mainland’s “14th Five-Year Plan” suggests that the Taiwan-related part of the country will draw on the prospects, making it difficult to stop the deepening development of cross-strait economic and trade cooperation.

Huge surplus to land supports Taiwan’s economy

　　With the mainland becoming the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth this year, cross-strait economic and trade has played a powerful role in stimulating Taiwan's economy.

　　Taiwan’s data shows that from January to November, Taiwan’s exports to the mainland and Hong Kong were 136.74 billion (USD, the same below), accounting for more than 40% of its total exports, an increase of 14.0% year-on-year.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of the Mainland, the cross-strait import and export trade volume was 235.69 billion during the same period, bringing Taiwan a trade surplus of 127.73 billion.

　　Director Liu Jieyi of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council bluntly stated at the annual meeting of the Cross-Strait Entrepreneurs Summit in December that without these trade surpluses, Taiwan’s foreign trade would have a huge deficit.

If it is not driven by the mainland, Taiwan’s economy will be unable to maintain positive growth this year.

Cross-strait economic and trade is difficult to "decouple"

　　While the volume of cross-strait trade has increased significantly, the brilliant data on cross-strait mutual investment has important reference value for judging the economic and trade relations between the two sides.

　　Since the beginning of this year, a series of cross-strait economic and trade activities such as the annual meeting of the Cross-Strait Entrepreneurs Summit, the Straits Forum, and the online promotion of "Taiwan-funded enterprises to expand domestic sales" have attracted a large number of Taiwanese businessmen and enterprises to participate in them.

　　Take the September "Lu-Taiwan Conference" as an example. More than 100 Taiwanese businessmen participated offline. For the first time, the Cross-Strait Expo, which was held in the "Cloud", attracted 436 Taiwanese companies to participate, 1.4 times that of last year.

In the same month, the "Gan-Taiwan Conference", leisure agriculture, smart mobile terminals, automobile manufacturing and other industry docking activities signed 63 projects, with a total investment of 3.96 billion.

　　Taiwanese data also show that in the first 11 months of this year, Taiwanese businessmen invested 5.60 billion in the mainland, an increase of 50.4% over the same period last year; during the same period, the amount of land investment in Taiwan increased by 31.5%.

　　Experts are not surprised that cross-strait economic and trade cooperation will rise against the trend in 2020.

Pang Jianguo, a professor at Taiwan’s Chinese Culture University, pointed out in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency that the mainland has a huge market and strong growth momentum. It is Taiwan’s best economic and trade partner.

It is impossible to "decouple" cross-strait economics and trade. This is determined by economic laws.

Based on the mainland is to lay out the future

　　The Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian emphasized in a regular press conference recently that the "14th Five-Year Plan" proposal describes the opportunities and benefits described in the Taiwan-related part, creating a broader space for Taiwanese and Taiwanese enterprises to develop in the mainland; the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) ) It will also bring major benefits to Taiwanese compatriots and Taiwanese enterprises to gain a foothold in the mainland and their future deployment.

　　In stark contrast to the open attitude shown by the mainland, the DPP authorities continue to manipulate economic and trade affairs with ideology; clamoring that RCEP is not important, they must engage in the so-called "economic decentralization" and continue to implement the so-called "new southward policy."

　　But the data speaks.

Taiwan’s exports to ASEAN countries have been declining for three consecutive years, especially this year because of the impact of the epidemic, the recession has been particularly severe; compared with the continuous increase in Taiwan’s exports to the mainland during the same period, it has become increasingly dwarfed.

　　Zhou Zhihuai, director of the Academic Committee of the Center for Taiwan and East Asian Studies of Central China Normal University, said in Beijing a few days ago that the mainland's unswerving promotion of the development of cross-strait economic and trade relations is an institutional arrangement for upholding and maintaining the development of cross-strait relations.

The mainland advocates safeguarding the interests of Taiwan compatriots and adheres to the people-centered policy of integration and development of cross-strait relations.

　　Pang Jianguo told reporters that what the common people want is to live and work in peace and contentment. Only when the Taiwan Strait is peaceful can the people of Taiwan live in peace, and only when the people of Taiwan are prosperous can they be happy to work. "To create a positive and interactive cross-strait relationship is the top priority for Taiwan."