The Yangtze River Delta, one of China's most economically developed regions, has replaced the Pearl River Delta to attract the most investment of Taiwan entrepreneurs.

The Yangtze River Delta is a geographic and economic concept that embraces the Shanghai Municipality and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces with the metropolis as the center.

Jiangsu Province and Shanghai attracted 55 percent of Taiwan investment in the mainland in 2004, up from 26 percent in 1993, while the corresponding figure for Guangdong Province in south China and Fujian Province in east China, both in the Pearl River Delta, decreased to 28 percent from 48 percent, according to the Taiwan federation of industries.

The Taiwan investment in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai in 2004 alone accounted for one third of the total Taiwan investment in the mainland, estimated the investment commission of Taiwan's economic affairs authorities.

The per-capita GDP on the Yangtze River Delta exceeded the US$4,000 level in 2004, roughly the same as that for a moderate-income nation.

"The Yangtze River Delta has proved its status as the economic powerhouse of China, and it is highly possible it will become one of the powerhouses of the Asian and world economy in the next 20 years," said Shen Qingjing, a Taiwan businessman who decided to "do big business in the mainland" 14 years ago.

He studied other cities in the Delta after settling down in Shanghai, just the same as other Taiwan entrepreneurs. He set foot in real estate in Yangzhou in Jiangsu this year.

The Delta has overall superiority in attracting Taiwan investment, as it has advantages in the industries of electronics and information, as well as in location, infrastructure, economic scale and human resources that are crucial for trade and investment promotion.

"There is still considerable room in the Delta for Taiwan to invest," said Lu Xiaoyan, vice secretary general of the Shanghai Taiwan Institute.

In the Delta, Shanghai acts as a bellwether for its outstanding status and influence. Shanghai signals trends in finance, the modern service industry and high-tech manufacturing for Taiwan investment in the coming years.

Last year, the service sector in Shanghai realized 356.5 billion yuan (43.9 billion US dollars) in value added output.

Different from Shanghai, which endeavors to develop a modern service industry, Jiangsu attracts Taiwan investment by mature industry links.

"Kunshan was attractive because it is near Shanghai, now the mature industry links are the key factor," Qi Daofu, chairman of the Taiwan businessmen association in Kunshan, a city in Jiangsu.

The industries of electronic information and precision instrument are the new areas for Taiwan investment in Zhejiang, and the scale of investment is growing.

The Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta have become the two powerful engines for economic growth, taking one third of China's total gross domestic product and 60 percent of the country's foreign trade, according to an Economic Daily report.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2005)