国内英语资讯: Across China: Taiwan firms confidence in mainland market_时事

国内英语资讯: Across China: Taiwan firms confidence in mainland market

CHONGQING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- After less than a year of preparation, Taiwan's baking ingredient producer Namchow Group has entered the final stage of setting up a new branch in Chongqing.

It will be the company's sixth branch on the Chinese mainland, but the first in the western regions.

Founded in 1952, Namchow Group, which produces and sells oils and fats, cream, frozen dough, and other ingredients, first waded into the mainland market in 1996. It has set up five branches in Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou, all in coastal areas.

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by the country in 2017 to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa, inland regions have sped up the building of infrastructure.

In mid-May 2016, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits arranged a business delegation from Taiwan to visit Sichuan, Chongqing and Guangxi. The mazes of cranes and concrete -- all signs of Belt and Road Initiative construction -- astonished the 20-some representatives from Taiwan's business circles.

Chen Cheng-Wen, vice president at Namchow Group, said the trip strengthened his confidence in investing in western regions.

"Here I saw with my own eyes that western regions are on the rise and more and more areas have shaken off poverty. Cities hustled and bustled just like those in coastal areas," Chen told Xinhua.