The Ministry of Commerce has announced that as of the end of October, the Chinese mainland had seen investment from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao in more than 380,000 projects. And the ministry says these investments have greatly contributed to the mainland's economic growth.

Given the advantage of location, the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian became the first places where companies from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao invested in. Guangdong Province now has over 100 thousand projects directly funded by capital from these three places. And these investments helped Guangdong's GDP rise from 20th in the country 30 years ago to first place currently.

Almost 300 projects in Fujian Province saw investment from Taiwan in the first 10 months. That's up 53 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao have also seen good returns on their investments in the Chinese mainland.

Tang Wei, Director General of Department of Taiwan, HK & Macao, MOFCOM said "At present, the trade volume between the mainland and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao has exceeded 2.9 trillion US dollars, accounting for 14.9 percent of our total foreign trade volume. The mainland has attracted more than 4 trillion US dollars in investment from the three places, accounting for 47 percent of our overseas investment as whole."

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao have seen closer trade and economic relations since the mainland's adoption of reform and opening-up policy 30 years ago. In the face of the fluctuating global economic situation, cooperation between them has intensified.

(CCTV December 2, 2008)