Taiwan could loosen mainland investment rules

Taiwan’s president said the island could loosen rules governing investment by technology firms in mainland China to expand their markets, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ma Ying-jeou also said that Taiwan would consider manufacturing advanced technological products in the mainland, though it would not take a leadership role. "If other countries with similar technologies have already invested on the mainland, obviously we will consider whether we should go in, in order to have better market share," Ma said. However, while Ma emphasized that economic issues were more important than political issues for Taiwan citizens, he said that peace negotiations with the mainland hinged on the removal of missiles aimed at the island. Ma said Taiwan "hadn’t received a positive attitude" from Washington toward its plans to purchase more F-16 figher jets from the US due to opposition from Beijing.