TAIPEI (AFP) — Taiwan said Thursday that firms more than 20 percent owned by Chinese shareholders would no longer be banned from listing on the island's bourse, as ties between Taipei and Beijing continue to improve.
Companies more than 20 percent Chinese-owned but already listed on an exchange elsewhere can list locally too with immediate effect, Financial Supervisory Commission vice chairman Wu Tang-chieh told reporters.
A rule banning foreign firms with 40 percent or more of their net worth invested in China from listing in Taiwan had also been scrapped, Wu said.
The moves are aimed partly at helping Taiwanese firms based abroad to return to the island, but also follow the Kuomintang government's election pledge to boost the economy by improving ties with rival China.
The government said in mid-July that it was lifting restrictions on investment in China by Taiwanese firms, sparking criticism from the opposition that too much capital could flow out of the island.
Despite lingering hostility between China and Taiwan, local businesses have channelled about 150 billion US dollars into China since Taipei eased an investment ban in the early 1990s.
China took some 41 percent of the island's total exports in the first 11 months of last year.
- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to the story -
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