The September Heron Island with blue sky and blue sea opens its door to welcome guests from all over the world. From September 8th to 11th, the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (referred to as the "CIFIT") was held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, attracting more than 1,200 official government agencies and industrial and commercial enterprise groups from 129 countries and regions and 30 international organizations. The venue of this CIFIT has been "expanded", and the total exhibition area has been expanded from 120,000 square meters in previous years to 200,000 square meters this year. China is vigorously responding to the uncertainty of the global economy with the certainty of its own development, and more and more overseas merchants are setting their sights here. In this grand event that promotes two-way global investment, the presence of Taiwanese businessmen and enterprises allows us to see new opportunities for cross-strait integrated development.
This year's CIFIT will set up a special area for cross-strait integrated development. With the theme of "Connecting Cross-Strait and Sharing New Opportunities", the special zone has been fully expanded and improved based on the first exhibition in 2025, covering an area of 1,000 square meters. It uses the "Exhibition, Negotiation and Integration" model to create a new carrier for cross-Strait economic and trade cooperation. The 22 entities participating in the exhibition cover five major areas of complementary cross-strait advantages: semiconductors, precision machinery, biomedicine, financial services, and consumer food. The number has doubled from the previous session, and nearly half of them are listed Taiwanese companies.
"The CIFIT is an international economic and trade event that brings together global buyers, manufacturing companies and financial industry practitioners. Taiwan-funded enterprises can use this high-quality platform to explore cooperation opportunities, expand markets, and find investment targets." said Li Zhenghong, president of the National Federation of Taiwan Enterprises. Many participating Taiwanese companies believe that the Cross-Strait Integrated Development Zone provides a national-level display window for Taiwanese companies. It can not only showcase the company's technological strength and development results in the mainland to peers and domestic and foreign merchants, but also connect the mainland's complete industrial chain resources nearby. It is an important carrier for Taiwanese companies to participate in cross-strait integrated development. Taiwanese businessmen participating in this CIFIT said that the mainland market is vast and provides Taiwanese companies with a bigger stage, while the CIFIT opens a window for Taiwanese companies to go global.
Adhering to the original intention of "supporting Taiwan-funded enterprises to share development opportunities in the mainland and continuously deepening the integrated development of cross-strait economic and trade", this CIFIT also carried out many exchange activities focusing on practical results. For example, the key provinces' business environment promotion conference for Taiwan with the theme of "Deepening Cross-Strait Industrial Cooperation and Sharing New Development Opportunities", the 2026 Cross-Strait Economic and Trade Cooperation and Development Exchange Event with the theme of "New Opportunities for Cross-Strait Economic and Trade Integration Development during the '15th Five-Year Plan' Period", and cross-Strait Industrial Park Docking Activities with the four national-level cross-Strait Industrial Cooperation Zones (Entrepreneurship Parks) in Xiamen, Hefei, Guangxi, and Pingtan as the main body, etc. These exchange activities help Taiwanese businessmen and enterprises understand the mainland's industrial layout, connect with landing resources, and find new development space through policy interpretation, theme seminars, interactive dialogues, investment matching and other special services.
"The mainland has established a complete policy system to benefit Taiwan, providing all-round guarantees for the development of Taiwanese enterprises, Taiwanese youth, and Taiwanese compatriots on the mainland. The development pattern of deeply bound cross-strait economic and trade is irreversible." said Xu Shubo, chairman of the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce. Huang Mingzhi, chairman of the board of supervisors of the National Association of Taiwan Compatriots Investment Enterprises, believes that this year is the first year of mainland China’s “15th Five-Year Plan”. The mainland’s economy is showing a development trend of new momentum and improved structure, and new-quality productive forces are accelerating. At the same time, the industrial layout of Taiwan-funded enterprises has also shown a new trend, with good momentum in fields such as high-end equipment manufacturing and artificial intelligence. Traditional manufacturing enterprises have accelerated their digital and intelligent transformation, and the industrial structure has continued to be optimized. With the in-depth implementation of the "15th Five-Year Plan", cross-strait economic integration and development will continue to deepen, and the potential of industrial cooperation will be accelerated.
From January to July 2026, cross-strait trade volume reached US$221.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.5%. Among them, mainland exports to Taiwan were US$62.17 billion, a year-on-year increase of 31.6%; mainland imports from Taiwan were US$159.63 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24.7%. This fully demonstrates the close economic ties between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the solid foundation of common interests, and the stability and resilience of the cross-Strait industrial and supply chains. Since the beginning of this year, the mainland has vigorously responded to changes in the external environment such as geopolitical conflicts and economic and trade frictions, and has continued an overall stable and progressive development trend. The economy has shown vigorous vitality and strong resilience, injecting strong impetus and rare certainty into the world economy. It has also continuously provided new opportunities and opened up new space for strengthening cross-strait economic cooperation and deepening integrated development. The mainland has always been the best choice for Taiwanese businessmen and enterprises to invest and start business, a fertile ground for innovation and development, and a strong support for resisting risks.
Openness brings progress, and cooperation wins the future. The more we are caught up in the storm, the more cross-strait industries and compatriots on both sides need to strengthen cooperation, work together to resist risks, look for opportunities, complement each other's advantages, and jointly create a bright future of prosperity and development. (Author: Chang Bin)
