Taiwan is considering giving official permission for...

Taiwan is considering giving official permission for its businessmen to invest in China through indirect channels, according to a report in an independent Hong Kong magazine.

Nineties magazine quoted senior government and party officials in Taipei as saying the move was mainly aimed at diverting Taiwan’s glut of foreign reserves, which now stand at $75 billion.

“The ultimate aim of the government is to help improve the living standards of the people on the mainland and reduce the economic disparity between the mainland and Taiwan,” it quoted a senior Nationalist official as saying.

Taiwan businessmen are already trading indirectly with China through Hong Kong. The volume of such trade reached $1.5 billion last year, a 50% increase over 1986.