TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI) called for better communication with both the United States and China in order to promote Taiwan's business interests, in a white paper published Thursday (Aug. 12).

CNFI Chairman Wang Wen-yuan (王文淵) said the importance of global supply chains underlined Taiwan's role, but Taiwan-China relations could not be simplified as either cooperative or confrontational. The U.S. and China both influenced Taiwan's economic development, so it was important to maintain dialogue with both sides, he said in the white paper.

Government and the private sector should work together on rebuilding cross-strait channels of communication and design new policies to address relations with China, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) quoted the business leader as saying.

The government also needed to listen closely to Taiwanese investors overseas and in China to form cross-strait trade policies, according to Wang. He called on the government to help small- and medium-size enterprises to deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages of foreign labor and shipping containers, rising prices for raw materials, inflation, and the avowedly limited scale of relief measures.