THE flow of Taiwan funds into the mainland market will continue unabated despite a failure to reach agreement on protecting Taiwanese investments.
And yesterday, mainland officials and academics stressed that Taiwan was welcome to take a larger share in the lucrative market on the mainland, while putting pressure on it to remove restrictions on cross-strait economic contacts.
Mr Wang Lu-yen, honorary chairman of the Taiwan Businessmen Association in Hongkong, was disappointed with the failure of both sides to offer more extensive and legal protection for Taiwan investors.
''It is a matter of uncertainty. We do not know what's going to happen in China and there's always this fear that things might get out of hand because we lack legal protection,'' he said.
But he said Taiwan investment would continue to grow on the mainland by 50 per cent each year.
Official figures from the island show that there are 2,500 Taiwan investors in China, but Mr Wang said it was far from the true figure, which he estimated to be around 120,000 or more.
His view was shared by Mr Stanley Lim Yu-yan, general manager of Taiwan Merchants (Hongkong) Service Centre.