Information technology experts hope the Chinese mainland and Taiwan Province will establish common software standards between the two sides to promote compatible systems between the two sides across the Straits.

"We expect full use of all the IT resources between the two sides across the Straits so that together we can play a greater part in the world IT industry," said Chung-Cheng Wang, chairman of Taiwan-based Information Service Industry Association at the Straits ITForum held yesterday in the coastal city of Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The forum is the prelude to the Beijing-Taiwan Science & Technology Forum to be held from tomorrow to Thursday in Beijing. "Yet we are eager to find a system that can help the software industry be as well received in the world just as the hardware industry has been," he said.

The same problem will also be faced by the IT industry on the mainland, according to experts. And with vast markets and abundant resources to exploit -- coupled with increasing human talent on the mainland -- a bright future for cooperation there with Taiwan partners exists.

It is just that the two sides must be willing to work together and find commonalities to make that happen.

(China Daily September 9, 2003)