Xiamen, Kaohsiung ink deals valued at $30m

A Taiwan delegation headed by Han Kuo-yu (right, second), mayor of Kaohsiung of China's Taiwan region, arrives in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province on March 26. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]

A Taiwan delegation headed by Han Kuo-yu, mayor of Kaohsiung of China's Taiwan region, arrived in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province on Tuesday, the final stop of his tour across the Taiwan Straits.

Trade deals worth $30 million were reached between businesses from the two places that day, covering agricultural and fishery products.

Han, who assumed office in December, started the weeklong tour last Friday.

Before Xiamen, the Kaohsiung mayor visited Hong Kong, Macao and Shenzhen in Guangdong province. He will end his trip on Thursday.

Han, at a news conference in Xiamen, described his visit as "fruitful”, revealing that the delegation had so far signed trade deals worth 5.2 billion new Taiwan dollars.

Han marveled at the great changes in Xiamen since 1988 when he first visited the city.

"Only when I witness these changes with my own eyes am I shocked. Today's Xiamen is a garden city, very beautiful. We also hope Kaohsiung will be better in the future," he said.

The mayor pointed out that both the mainland and Taiwan attach great significance to exchanges in terms of civic matters, sports, culture, and youth, and have a particular focus on youth entrepreneurship, which offers great possibilities for cooperation in the future.

In 2018, the shipment of fruit from Kaohsiung to Xiamen reached 4.4 tons, accounting for 80 percent of the total transported from Taiwan to the mainland while the figure for aquatic products was 5.9 tons, 46 percent of the total.

From 2005 to 2018, Taiwan fruit imports passing through Xiamen surged from 207 to 47,000 tons, a 226-fold spike, official data show.