China's doors open to Taiwan

Regulators to allow orgs into local film biz

By CLIFFORD COONAN

BEIJING -- Chinese regulators have signaled they are planning to allow orgs from self-ruled Taiwan to run entertainment businesses on the mainland, a sign of warming relations between Beijing and Taiwan since the election of President Ma Ying-jeou last year.

Culture Minister Cai Wu told a cross-Straits conference that China was keen to boost Taiwan's entertainment industry by allowing greater access to the mainland market, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Taiwan's cultural sectors, including broadcasting, news publishing and music, could take advantage of better cross-Strait links amid a slowing domestic market, Wu Poh-hsiung, chairman of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang party, told the conference in Changsha.

Communist-ruled China and Taiwan have been deadly rivals since they split after the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the Kuomingtang forces under Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan after being defeated by Mao Zedong's Communists.

China regards Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and has threatened to use force if necessary to reclaim it. However, relations have improved vastly since the election of the China-friendly Ma as president.

Mandarin Chinese is spoken on both sides of the Strait of Taiwan, and many Taiwanese stars, including pop sensation Jay Chou, are popular in the People's Republic.

The Taiwanese will be allowed to run performance venues in China through ventures with local companies or by funding venues themselves, Cai said. Taiwanese entertainment brokerages will also be allowed to set up branches on the mainland, he said.

China also plans to allow Taiwanese cable networks to provide information services in Fujian Province, Tian Jin, deputy director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television was cited as saying.

Regulators are also making policies that will allow Taiwan companies and individuals to cooperate with mainland businesses in shooting and distribbing movies as well as building and renovating movie theaters.