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TAIPEI : Taiwan has benefited from its giant neighbour's measures to stimulate its economy by offering subsidies to consumers, the island's government said in a report.
Taiwan exported 4.65 billion US dollars worth of goods to China in April, down 33.8 percent from a year ago, the Board of Foreign Trade said.
The figure indicated, however, that the sharp decline of the island's export to its leading trading partner had slowed since January, when Taiwan's China-bound shipments plummeted 56.8 percent year-on-year, it said.
"This should have been the result of measures launched by the Chinese authorities to boost its domestic market, spurring its electronics and petrochemical import from Taiwan," it said.
The latest trade figures also indicated Taiwan's economy is becoming more reliant on the Chinese mainland market.
In April, China absorbed 31.3 percent of Taiwan's exports, a 19-month high after an all-time high of 32.5 percent recorded in September 2007.
Trade officials say the ever-closer trade links between the two former bitter cross-Strait rivals will strengthen further as hostilities have been on the wane since President Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang came to power last year.
The Ma administration is considering a comprehensive trade pact -- similar in scope to a free trade agreement -- with Beijing to boost the flow of goods and personnel across the strait and to help the island tackle recession.
But the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has strongly opposed the potential pact, which it claims would demote Taipei to the status of a local government in any rapprochement talks.
China regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, although the two sides have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.
- AFP/ir
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