The interconnection and interoperability of industry standards enables seamless connection of cold chain logistics on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The picture shows workers of Zhengyang Logistics Co., Ltd. sorting goods. (Photo by Zhang Jiangyi, a reporter from Xiamen Daily)

Taizu Food is one of the main drafting units of the national standard "General Principles for Quality of Seaweed and Its Products" to be released soon. The picture shows the production line of Taizu Food. (Photo by Lin Minghong, a reporter from Xiamen Daily)

The trend of cross-strait integration and development is surging. Common standards have become a bridge and a new path in the tide of integration.

On June 15, 2024, the first cross-strait standard common service platform on the mainland was launched in Xiamen for one year. In just one year, this platform, which mainly serves Taiwan compatriots and Taiwan enterprises, has gathered more than 290,000 cross-strait standards of various types, published and collected 216 cross-strait common standards, achieved accurate comparison of more than 12,000 standard indicators and nearly 4,000 terms and terms on both sides of the strait, and received more than 230,000 visits, providing a "one-stop" standardization comprehensive service for cross-strait industry, academia, research and enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs in Taiwan.

From the commonality of corporate standards to the commonality of industry standards, from the interconnection of infrastructure to the mutual communication of terms and terms, Xiamen, which is separated from Taiwan by a shallow strait, has first developed and launched a series of cross-strait common standards, and through many pioneering measures, has helped Taiwan compatriots to come across the strait, invest and start businesses, open up markets, and share new development opportunities in the first home of Taiwan compatriots and Taiwan enterprises.

"Many young people in Taiwan asked me what the common standards on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can bring to them. I said it can bring too many opportunities." Wu Jiaying, executive vice president of the China Association of Taiwanese Enterprises, has been rooted in the mainland for nearly 30 years. He said frankly, "Only when cross-strait relations are good can Taiwan be good; only when cross-strait standards are common can Taiwan be common. The mainland has long been the largest destination for Taiwanese investment. Taiwanese compatriots and Taiwanese enterprises who want to integrate into the new development pattern of the mainland and participate in high-quality development are eager to have common standards in more areas on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

Corporate standards are common

The platform helps find experts and compares the differences in cross-strait standards for Taiwanese businessmen for free

Taiwanese farmer Zhang Yuyuan never thought that in just one year, he would not only open a branch in Xiamen, but also realize the wish of his ancestors and open a tea garden in the mainland.

He is the fourth-generation successor of Lugu Tourist Farm in Nantou, Taiwan. He grew up in a tea garden and planted, made and sold tea. In the past, he often transported tea to the mainland through the "mini three links" route between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to sell. "Every time I calculated the various costs of transportation, the cost would double." Zhang Yuyuan decided to open a tea garden, build a factory and set up a company in the mainland.

In the mainland, every product has a standard. For a bag of tea or a computer, the company must disclose the standards used in the production on the relevant national platform and print the "company implementation standard number" on the outer packaging. This is the self-declaration disclosure and supervision system of corporate standards implemented in the mainland.

However, the standards for tea picking and pesticide residue limits on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are different, and the market supervision models are also different, which made Zhang Yuyuan worried.

When he was confused, the cross-strait standard common service platform helped. After receiving Zhang Yuyuan's application, the platform quickly organized experts to help him compare the differences between the standards on both sides of the Taiwan Strait for free, and coached him to write corporate standards for his products.

In September 2023, Lugu Tourist Farm published the "Oolong Tea" corporate standard on the Cross-Strait Standards Common Service Platform. This is the first corporate standard declared and disclosed by a Taiwanese enterprise in the mainland. Zhang Yuyuan said, "I will adopt the standard with higher indicators in the cross-strait standards. The tea produced meets the standards of both sides of the strait and can be produced and sold on both sides."

Xiamen pioneered the self-declaration and disclosure system of corporate standards in the Taiwan region, providing relevant standardization comprehensive services for Taiwanese enterprises that intend to develop in the mainland. Wang Zhijun, deputy director of the Standardization Department of the Xiamen Market Supervision Bureau, said: "This move is to help Taiwanese enterprises' products and services quickly adapt to and integrate into the mainland market."

Zhang Yuyuan soon established a company in Xiamen and opened up a two- to three-hundred-acre experimental base in Wuyi Mountain to grow Taiwanese tea. "This year's sales have increased significantly, and 70% of our tea is sold to the mainland." "Our ancestors and parents have been clearing the mountains and soil for hundreds of years, and have reclaimed 350 acres of tea gardens in Nantou, which is considered large in Taiwan. When I went to the mainland, I saw that small tea farms have hundreds of acres." Zhang Yuyuan sighed, "I must come to the mainland, the world is wide here." Common industry standards Sit down to formulate standards together, and some have been upgraded to national standards Kinmen compatriot Cai Jinyu carefully took out a piece of ready-to-eat seasoned seaweed with tweezers, placed it on a clean white porcelain plate, and observed its shape and color under natural light. Then, he rinsed his mouth with warm water and put the seaweed in his mouth to taste it. These feelings were written into his corporate standards. Cai Jinyu is the second-generation inheritor of Taizu Food. He came to Xiamen to set up a factory in 2006 and served as the general manager of Xiamen Taizu Food Co., Ltd. Today, the production capacity of the Xiamen factory is three times that of the Kinmen factory, mainly for the mainland market.

At the end of 2023, with the help of the cross-strait standard common service platform, Cai Jinyu formulated and made public the corporate standard for ready-to-eat seasoned seaweed. It is reported that 13 Taiwanese companies with factories on both sides of the strait have publicly disclosed 44 self-declarations of corporate standards, involving rubber, plastics, electronic equipment and other fields, covering 134 products.

In the Taizu Food Factory, there is a national standard for the "General Principles for the Quality of Seaweed and Its Products" that is about to be released. Cai Jinyu opened the general principle and said, "You see, our company is one of the main drafting units of this standard."

Taiwanese companies were invited to sit down with mainland companies and jointly formulate this national standard. Cai Jinyu said bluntly: "Enterprises on both sides of the strait find points of convergence in differences and jointly formulate industry standards, which will help to improve the proximity of product production processes on both sides of the strait and enhance the convenience of customs clearance of goods on both sides of the strait. It is not only conducive to the steady development of Taiwanese companies in the mainland, but also will help the cross-strait industry docking."

Song Keqi, a Taiwanese businessman who participated in the formulation of common standards for cross-strait food cold chain logistics, personally experienced the benefits brought by the common industry standards.

In 2009, Song Keqi established Zhengyang Logistics Co., Ltd. in Xiamen to expand its cold chain logistics business. At that time, most of the cold chain distribution in the mainland still relied on the "old three": foam boxes, ice packs, and quilts.

Xiamen, together with the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, Taiwanese businessmen and enterprises, formulated 13 common standards for food cold chain logistics, two of which were later upgraded to national standards. Song Keqi said, "The interconnection and interoperability of industry standards on both sides of the Taiwan Strait has rapidly promoted the in-depth docking and cooperative development of industries on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan's multi-temperature layer joint distribution model and other cold chain logistics technologies have been introduced to the mainland. Cold storage sheets, cold storage boxes, and cold storage cabinets have gradually replaced the "old three", and the cold chain logistics on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have achieved seamless docking."

Song Keqi's cold chain logistics business in the mainland has also grown bigger and bigger, with outlets in four cities including Xiamen, Suzhou, Dongguan, and Dalian. The company's turnover is already 10 times that of its inception. She said with emotion, "Cross-strait economic and trade exchanges are absolutely inseparable."

Infrastructure connectivity

Xiamen's barrier-free facilities are "barrier-free"

During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Mr. Xu, a Kinmen compatriot who has been starting a business in the mainland for a long time, took his 82-year-old father to Xiamen, took the subway, visited the botanical garden, and walked along the mountain and sea health trail to see the mountains and waters of the Ludao Island. His father has difficulty walking and needs a wheelchair to travel. Mr. Xu was surprised to find that many barrier-free facilities in Xiamen are particularly familiar to use.

Liu Shanshan, a senior economist at the Taiwan Standardization (Xiamen) Research Center, "deciphered" that "this is because many barrier-free facilities in Xiamen have been designed and constructed according to the common barrier-free standards and specifications on both sides of the strait." Mr. Xu smiled and said: "Barrier-free travel, this is what we expect from the life in Xiamen and Kinmen."

In recent years, both sides of the strait have vigorously promoted the improvement of barrier-free environment. The mainland has issued 47 national, industry, and local standards, and Taiwan has also issued 27 standards and specifications. However, some differences in cross-strait standards have caused trouble for architects on both sides of the strait in technical exchanges and cooperation.

At the end of December 2023, the civil groups of Xiamen, Kinmen and Matsu jointly issued and implemented the common standards for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait for the first time - "Comparison of Terms of Barrier-free Facilities on Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait" and "Design Standards for Barrier-free Facilities on Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait". More than 10 architects from Taiwan participated in it, and together with mainland architects, they studied the characteristics of the regions, climate, economy, and humanities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, exchanged what they had, learned from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and completed the compilation of the standards. In the end, there are 44 clauses and 46 illustrations in the design standards from relevant standards in Taiwan.

"Our association has more than 300 professional architect members in Taiwan, and many architects hope to be integrated into the construction service field of the mainland." Chen Zexiu, chairman of the Kinmen Matsu Regional Architects Association, said, "Common standards can make architects on both sides of the Taiwan Strait cooperate without barriers and accelerate the realization of more infrastructure connectivity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

"Jointly select topics, jointly compare, jointly develop, and jointly use." Liu Shanshan said that Taiwan compatriots and Taiwanese enterprises have joined hands to participate in the development of cross-strait standards, which has expanded from individual corporate standards to industry standards, and extended from industries to the field of social governance.

Xiamen University has undertaken a cross-strait blue carbon trading standard common pilot project, which has installed 326 sets of equipment in Taiwan, traded more than 1,900 tons of carbon sinks, and applied the standards in 18 public areas in Taiwan, leading the improvement of carbon sink measurement and monitoring methods in Taiwan.

Wang Zhijun introduced that Xiamen has taken the lead in formulating 143 cross-strait common standards, filling the gaps in common standards in multiple fields, not only achieving further docking of technology, industry and market, but also promoting the common improvement of social governance.

Terminology Interoperability

Take the lead in establishing a standardization technical committee and accurately "align" 6 key areas

Deeply cultivating the mainland market, Wu Jiaying's business is booming, expanding from the initial building materials business to the first, second and third industries. He often recalls the scene when he first came to the mainland, "The language is the same, the customs are the same, the climate is similar, and it is familiar and close, which made me determined to take root in the mainland and start a business."

"The two sides of the strait share the same roots, the same language and the same race. Although some language expressions are different, the common nationality and cultural identity make the compatriots on both sides of the strait get along without any obstacles in daily life." Wu Jiaying said frankly, "The difference in nouns and terms is mainly reflected in industrial docking and economic and trade exchanges."

In January this year, Xiamen took the lead in establishing the first cross-strait noun and terminology standardization technical committee on the mainland to accurately compare the differences between the nouns and terms on both sides of the strait. "The "blind path" in the mainland is called "blind guide bricks" in Taiwan; the "Braille" in the mainland is called "Braille" in Taiwan, and the "nursing home" in the mainland is called "nursing center" in Taiwan." Liu Shanshan introduced that there are 2,461 current terminology standards in the mainland and 283 in Taiwan. The terminology standards on both sides of the strait have different focuses and differences.

This difference brings trade barriers, such as customs declaration. In the mainland, potatoes are commonly known as potatoes; in Taiwan, peanuts are commonly known as potatoes. Filling in "potatoes" during customs declaration will cause some confusion. Is it "peanuts" or "potatoes"? Misunderstandings caused by different terms, misreporting alcohol as beverages, different taxes, and possible "lawsuits".

To eliminate obstacles, the above-mentioned standardization committee has currently issued six key areas of terminology comparison standards, including architectural acoustics terms, elderly care service terms, etc. Xiamen is the first in China to launch the cross-strait standard intelligent comparison function. Through the cross-strait standard common service platform, it can accurately compare the differences between cross-strait standards and terminology, and query the comparison results of more than 2,000 food additives, more than 10,000 pesticide residue limit indicators, and more than 4,000 cross-strait terminology in one click.

"Terminology is the basis for the commonality of standards." Wu Jiaying was invited to serve as the deputy director of the Cross-Strait Terminology Standardization Committee. After a systematic study, he found that "behind the differences, the terminology and standards on both sides of the strait have a natural common basis. Tracing back to the source, they are all the inheritance of China's excellent traditional culture."

"We are eagerly looking forward to the full commonality of standards on both sides of the strait. The community of shared destiny between the two sides of the strait is already a vivid reality. No obstacles can stop the mutual integration of compatriots on both sides of the strait." Wu Jiaying said.

Reporter's Notes

"Incompatibility" becomes "commonality"

Mainstream public opinion behind

Xiamen Daily reporter Zhan Wen

A pair of children from Taiwanese farmer Zhang Yuyuan followed their father to the mainland to grow and sell tea. Daughter Zhang Meiting described it as "opening a new world", "no need to adjust and adapt, it is easy to integrate with young people on the mainland, there are many common languages and common hobbies."

There are too many "commons" between compatriots on both sides of the strait. As Wu Jiaying said, "common national and cultural identity is an innate gene."

Behind the "commonality" there are also some "incompatibility" - due to historical reasons, there are differences in the standards between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, which has caused troubles for cross-strait industrial exchanges, trade exchanges, market supervision, etc. A Taiwanese company that produces food contains an additive in its products, which is banned in the mainland but allowed in Taiwan. The inconsistency of standards brings risks to business operations and also poses a problem for market supervision.

At the 40th anniversary commemoration of the publication of the "Message to Compatriots in Taiwan", General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The two sides of the Taiwan Strait should be as open as possible, and promote the smooth flow of economic and trade cooperation, infrastructure connectivity, energy and resource connectivity, and common industry standards." In September 2023, the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Supporting Fujian in Exploring a New Path for Cross-Strait Integration and Development and Building a Cross-Strait Integration and Development Demonstration Zone" was issued, "Encouraging cross-strait industry, academia, research and enterprises to jointly formulate common industry standards."

We are of the same blood and should be as open as possible. This is the goodwill released by the mainland and the true expression of "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family."

In recent years, Xiamen has taken the lead in trial and error, and has explored new paths and methods in the field of cross-strait standard commonality. It was the first to establish the only national-level Taiwan-related standardization research institution in the mainland, the first to establish the mainland's first cross-strait standard commonality service platform, the first to establish the mainland's first cross-strait terminology standardization technical committee, and the first to establish a cross-strait standardization expert database... The "Xiamen Path" turns "incompatibility" into "commonality", allowing Taiwan compatriots and Taiwan enterprises to integrate into the mainland's high-quality development faster and better, and share new opportunities for Chinese-style modernization.

"Who needs cross-strait standard commonality the most? Taiwan compatriots and Taiwan enterprises. Who benefits the most? It's still Taiwan compatriots and Taiwan enterprises." Wu Jiaying said bluntly, "After learning about the differences in cross-strait standards, many Taiwanese companies will make their products meet mainland standards by improving processes and transforming technologies. Why? Because the mainland is Taiwan's largest trading partner, Taiwan needs the mainland market, and only common standards can make Taiwan's goods, technology, and talents flow more smoothly across the strait."

Behind the common standards is the mainstream public opinion of the majority of Taiwan compatriots "wanting peace, development, exchanges, and cooperation."

The shallow strait is no longer an insurmountable barrier for compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The tide of cross-strait integration and development is unstoppable. (Reporter Zhan Wen Chen Ni)

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