TAIWAN, HONG KONG TO COLLABORATE IN SERVICE SECTOR

Taiwan and Hong Kong were urged Monday to forge partnerships in the service sectors on each side to explore the growing Chinese market.

Taiwan has great potential to explore business opportunities in the Chinese service market due to the similarity of the cultures on either side of the Taiwan Strait and the recent signing of the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), said Chen Tain-Jy, an economics professor at National Taiwan University, at a forum in Taipei on Taiwan-Hong Kong trade.

"We need to pay special heed to this, one of the biggest opportunities in China following the signing of the ECFA, " he said.

Taiwan and China have agreed to ease restrictions on certain financial and other services under the trade pact, which is expected to take effect in the near future.

In addition, Chen said, there is still a lot of room in which the service sector can grow in China, as it now accounts for just 40 per cent of the country's GDP.

He suggested that Taiwan and Hong Kong can collaborate on medical treatment, environmental protection and cultural innovation, as the two sides have vowed to commit to these emerging fields and can complement each other in these respects.

"The development of these emerging service industries can use Taiwan's advantage in information and communications technology, " said Chen, a former head of the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development.

In terms of environmental protection, for example, Taiwan has achieved remarkable progress as it is already the world's largest producer of energy-saving LED lights, he noted.

In the field of medical treatment, meanwhile, Hong Kong has rich experience in epidemic prevention, while Taiwan is planning a system of insurance to cover long-term care, he said.

Chen also urged Taiwan and Hong Kong to remove trade barriers in the service trade, but he did not elaborate.

David Lie, who chairs the Business Cooperation Committee of the Hong Kong-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Cooperation and Promotion Council (ECCPC) , also said at the forum that Taiwan and Hong Kong should capitalize on each other's advantages to increase their respective shares of the Chinese and international markets.

Lawrence Lau, the former president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who also spoke at the forum, said that the service trade has long been important between Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Taiwan was Hong Kong's fifth-largest export destination for service trade and its seventh-largest source of service trade imports in 2008, he noted.

He urged insurance companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China to set up an international insurance center in Hong Kong in view of the fact that the three places between them account for the world's largest life insurance market and shipping fleets.

Such an international insurance center would reduce the costs of Chinese and Taiwanese businesses and help enhance their international competitiveness, he said.

He also encouraged Taiwanese colleges and universities to attract students from Hong Kong.

In addition, Lau proposed that travel agencies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Macao should work to attract foreigners to tour the four places under a single collaborative program.

The forum was held alongside the first meeting between the ECCPC and its Taiwanese counterpart, the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Cooperation Council (ECCC), since the two organizations were set up earlier this year to strengthen bilateral ties.