A facility designed to facilitate exchanges between cross-Straits young entrepreneurs was inaugurated on Dachen Island in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province on Sept 25, according to local media reports.

According to Chen Xianmin, honorary president of the Taizhou Taiwan Compatriots Investment Enterprise Association, the facility's establishment will help more young people from Taiwan to start businesses in Taizhou and other cities on the mainland.

In 2005, Chen moved to Taizhou with his family and set up an enterprise engaged in the production and sales of auto parts in the city.

During the past 17 years, he witnessed the vitality of the private economy in Taizhou and enjoyed the city's development dividends. Therefore, he wants to share his "luck" with more young people in Taiwan.

Along with 11 businesspeople from Taiwan, Chen also registered a Taiwan food brand, allowing Taiwan and Taizhou residents alike to enjoy genuine cuisine from the island.

Dachen Island, where the new facility is located, was liberated by the People's Liberation Army in 1955. About 15,000 local residents moved to Taiwan as Kuomintang troops retreated from the island. There are currently about 20,000 Taiwan residents who are of Dachen origin.

In recent years, Taizhou has kept close links with Taiwan in economic, trade, educational, industrial, technological, financial and cultural fields.

The city has been designated as a provincial pilot zone for cross-Straits cooperation in the reform of financial services for small and micro enterprises.

Taizhou's Xianju county is also home to one of only three national level entrepreneurship parks for Taiwan farmers in Zhejiang.

Currently, there are two sea routes linking Taizhou with Taiwan, and both connect Yuhuan city to the island's Taichung and Keelung.