The council is advising Taiwan authorities to prepare for direct transportation links and to ease restrictions on shipping goods to and from the mainland.

The council also recommends Taiwan lift the cap on the amount of capital invested in a single project, which is now set at 50 million US dollars.

Some of the recommendations are expected to be implemented relatively soon.

Many business owners welcome more relaxed business ties with the economically booming mainland, especially since the U.S. economy is not doing well at the moment. But others are concerned that more factories will relocate to the mainland and worsen unemployment on Taiwan.

Taiwan’s stock market responded enthusiastically, with share prices rising nearly one percent yesterday, their best performance in more than a week.

(CRI.com.cn 08/14/2001)