The provincial Party committee and government of East China's Fujian province recently released a guideline for the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone (PCPZ) in order to deepen its cross-Straits communication and cooperation, and boost its scientific development.

The document urges Pingtan, as the mainland's sole pilot zone open to Taiwan, to increase cross-Straits economic and cultural exchange so as to contribute to the peaceful development of cross-Straits ties.

Meanwhile, Pingtan's authorities are charged with opening up minds, getting more innovative and pushing to build a free trade port during Pingtan's economic development to provide a boost to Fujian's economic upgrading and reform.

The special connection with Taiwan will also tap into Pingtan's urban construction blueprints as well as industrial layout, as the guideline points out that Pingtan will build an emerging industry zone, a high-end service zone as well as a livable zone for cross-Straits communications.

The industrial focus of Pingtan's growth will be shifted from infrastructure construction to cultivation of industrial clusters, said the document.

Pingtan will become a trailblazer in mechanism innovation, spearheading a variety of reforms in cross-Straits communications and economic development. The government will transform its traditional functions of macro-control and let the market play the leading role in its development.

The guideline set a series goals of growth for Pingtan over the next five years, including 20 percent, 20 percent and 30 percent year-on-year growth in GDP, fixed asset investment and total financial revenue, respectively; making the public service, and income of urban and rural residents, to exceed the average level of the whole province; and building a basic investment and trade framework which is in line with international standards.

The document sums up Pingtan's major tasks as follows:

Deepen communication and cooperation with Taiwan; facilitate cross-Straits investments, trade and personnel exchanges; build a new industry zone, a high-end service zone and a livable environment for Taiwanese people.

Consolidate its industrial systems and optimize industrial layouts.

Make innovations in the mechanisms of administration, financing and professionals recruitment.

Enhance its smart city construction as well as urban ecological construction, streamline and reform the land management system.

Improve its infrastructure conditions, and provide more public facilities to residents.

Based on an industrial development plan issued by local authorities, Pingtan will concentrate on five major industries – high and new technology, modern service, cultural creativity, tourism leisure and marine economy. It plans to invest more than 210 billion yuan ($33.6 billion) in 57 related projects and 478 billion yuan in 109 related industrial clusters over the next five years.

Pingtan is also on target for “basically becoming a common homeland for cross-Straits cooperation and scientific development” set by an overall development plan, in 2018, which is already two years ahead of target..

The development plan was approved by the State Council in 2011, which rolled out 28 favorable policies in seven areas that determined to give Pingtan a distinctive role even more special than China's special economic zones (SEZ).

With the completion of “Pingtan Closure”, which refers to the establishment of an integrated customs supervision and management system covering the whole Pingtan, in mid July, those policies have all been fully implemented.

The outcome has been satisfying. More than 1,000 Taiwanese have come to Pingtan to start up their own businesses, statistics show.

In 2014 alone, 84 new Taiwan-funded enterprises emerged, a year-on-year growth of 160 per cent. 58 of them were opened in June, outnumbering the total increment of last year.

As of the end of June, there were 223 Taiwan-funded enterprises in Pingtan with an accrued investment of $467 million and registered capital of $321 million.