Sichuan Province hosted 1,500 Taiwanese companies with $6.22 billion worth of investment in the province in the first quarter this year, making it the most popular destination for Taiwanese companies in West China. Among the 1,500 companies, each of the 117 companoes invested more than $10 million, according to the Sichuan Province Investment Promotion Bureau.

This makes Sichuan the most popular destination in West China �C that covers five other provinces including Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi,

Gansu and Qinghai. It also includes Tibet, Xinjiang, Ningxia autonomous regions and Chongqing Municipality. Overall, Jiangsu and Guangdong are the two provinces most preferred by Taiwanese companies.

As if proving the growing importance of the region to Taiwan, the 7th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum was held in Chengdu Sunday, the capital city of Sichuan. It is the first time the forum has been held in West China.

"For the last two years, Sichuan and Chongqing have aggressively provided preferential policies to attract investment," Wang Guomin, researcher at the Institution of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

"Besides preferential policies, competitive labor costs and relatively developed economic status there attract Taiwanese companies," Wang said.

In July 2010, Taiwanese electronic giant Foxconn Technology Group started manufacturing in the province. The company, which has been pouring heavy investment into Sichuan, started building a new factory in Mianyang, located some 100 kilometers to the northeast of Chengdu, to produce 50 million smart phones.

Many other IT companies started coming to the province. The trend is very likely to continue and is being encouraged in China's 12th Five-Year plan.

"Developing mid-west China is very significant to the 12th Five-Year Plan," Zhuang Yiqi, vice president of the Social Science School at Taiwan's National Chengchi University, told Chengdu Economic Daily Sunday. "The central and western regions have a great appeal for Taiwan and the two sides should cooperate," said Zhuang.