Sichuan Province, China to Attract Taiwanese Enterprises

Taipei, March 9, 2011 (CENS)--Motivated by the authorities in China, Taiwanese enterprises seem to be targeting Sichuan Province to expand operations in western China, particularly Chongqing, the only special municipality in the province and in western China.

To attract more Taiwanese enterprises to set up operations in Sichuan, the Sichuan Provincial Governor Jiang Jufong plans to lead a delegation to visit Taiwan in May, aiming to persuade more Taiwanese financial, service-related enterprises to set up business.

Some leading electronic and computer firms, including Hewlett Packard, Foxconn, Inventec Corp., and Quanta Computer Inc., have already established operational bases in Chongqing, a city ambitious to become one of the major production centers of notebook PCs within five years.

Increasingly more high-tech and electronic companies are reportedly to move to Chongqing or expand operations in the near future, with an estimated 400 downstream suppliers very likely to follow to tap the potential business opportunity.

The Far Eastern Department Store, an affiliate of the Far Eastern Group, set up a sales outlet in Chongqing as early as in 1997, the department store's first foothold in western China. So far the group's two department store brands—Far Eastern and Pacific Sogo—have five sales outlets in Sichuan Province and the sixth is slated to open in May in Chengdu, the provincial capital.

Last year the group's two department stores in Chongqing posted combined revenues of three billion renminbi or about NT$13.42 billion (US$432.9 million).

Chongqing has been one of the fastest developing cities and in 2010 posted GDP that ranked second among the provinces and municipalities.