Ships carrying 14 tons of fruits from Taiwan docked Monday morning for the first time in east China 's Beilun port on the coast of eastern Zhejiang Province.

The newly arrived fruits were shipped by the Ningbo Haitian International Trading Co. Ltd, including 1,200-kg pawpaws, 708-kg mangos, 2,500-kg bananas, 6,000-kg pineapples and 3,020-kg guavas.

The fruits, valued at 18,000 US dollars, were exempt from tariffs according to an arrangement announced on May 3 by Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, extending easier access to 18 species of Taiwan fruits and abolishing tariffs on at least 10 fruits.

The arrangement was made by the mainland immediately after the visit of Chairman Lien Chan of the Kuomintang (KMT) of China in Taiwan.

Taking advantage of the policy convenience, Taiwan fruits entered into an increasing number of mainland areas including the southern Fujian Province, eastern Shanghai Municipality and Beijing in the past month.

So far, the Taiwan fruits mainly targeted at retail outlets in major mainland cities. However, 10.5 tons of Taiwan-grown pineapples went on sale Sunday morning in a wholesale market in Xiamen, neighboring Taiwan in Fujian Province. The sale marked the growing ambitions of traders on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

The Xiamen city government is now endeavoring to make its Dongdutongyi wharf a stop on the direct shipping routes across the Taiwan Straits and considering to construct a fruit inspection, quarantine base and a giant refrigerator close to the wholesale market to accommodate the incoming fruits, said a local official.

Source: Xinhua