Taiwan's indirect trade with China surged to 102.3 billion US dollars in 2007, despite political tension across the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan trade authorities said on Wednesday, according to dpa. According to the Bureau of Foreign Trade, Taiwan-China indirect trade totalled 102.3 billion US dollars in 2007, up 16 per cent from 2006. By the end of 2007, China had become Taiwan's number one trading partner and export market and its top source of import and of trade surplus. Taiwan and China have been split since 1949 when the Chinese Nationalists lost the Chinese Civil War and fled to Taiwan to set up their government-in-exile. As cross-Strait tension began to thaw, Taiwan in 1987 allowed Taiwanese to travel to China for family reunion and sightseeing, and in 1992 permitted Taiwan firms to conduct indirect trade with China. In 2001, Taiwan-China indirect trade amounted to only 31.5 billion US dollars, or 13.4 per cent of Taiwan's foreign trade. But in 2007 Taiwan-China indirect trade accounted for 21.9 per cent of Taiwan's foreign trade.
