Lin Wen-ding's story is an ironic one. Once a leader of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, which is often at odds with Chinese mainland policies, Lin Wen-ding now resides in south China's Hainan Province, a success story of better cross-strait relations.

Lin Wen-ding, who dropped his political career after a fallout with Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's current leader, became a coffee farmer at the age of 48.

"I believe my father is actually very eager to become successful here in the mainland to show that even without Chen Shui-bian, he could live a good life," said 29-year-old Lin Chia-hsu, son of Lin Wen-ding and manager of his father's Goodsir coffee farm in Chengmai County.

If China can attract Lin Wen-ding-of all people-to come to the mainland to plant, there's certainly hope for better cross-strait agricultural relations.

Goodsir coffee farm also shows that beyond China's fertile ground, both business and political conditions are favorable in China for Taiwanese growers.

Lucky red soil

After searching for the land for several months in Tianjin, Guangzhou and Hainan, in early 2002, Lin Wen-ding settled his coffee farm upon the red soil of Chengmai County.

He signed a contract with a local farm and got the right to use 450 mu area of land for 30 years.

"We are very lucky to get such vast and good land for such a small amount of money," Lin Chia-hsu said. "Currently, the average price to rent this fertile red soil is 150 yuan per mu per year."

But the rental fee Goodsir coffee farm pays is only 50 yuan per mu per year, with fees increasing slightly every 10 years.

Lin said his family is expecting to cover the first 10 years of expenses in seven to eight years, much of which is wait time for coffee trees to mature.

"After the first few years, we can be profitable every year," Lin said, smiling, although his farm hasn't produced profit yet.

The Goodsir coffee farm is a case-in-point of why Taiwanese farmers fall in love with Chinese soil.

Taiwan and Hainan are similar in terms of geology, weather, and natural conditions, said Xu Gang, Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of Hainan Province. However, Hainan possesses vast land, a cheap labor force and is backed by the huge mainland market.

Already, Xu said, there are 428 agriculture enterprises owned or funded by Taiwanese in Hainan, accounting for $335 million in investment.

Hainan now grows more than 500 types of Taiwanese produce. Some of the Taiwan-owned farms occupy very large areas, like one pawpaw company's 3,000 mu production base.

"It is impossible to realize this kind of large-scale plantation in Taiwan, which is short of land supply," Xu said.

Politics' positive role

When Beijing Review interviewed Lin Chia-hsu at the farm, his father was in Xiamen for the recent cross-strait agricultural cooperation trade fair. The largest to date with 4,000 attendees, the fair was a testament to the government's success in promoting cross-strait agrobusiness.

Indeed, the Central Government and the local government in Hainan have enacted many favorable policies for farmers from Taiwan.

"The government is very helpful to our operation," Lin said. Some Hainan officials once told Lin that the government would do their best to make sure that Taiwan enterprises in the province could be successful, "so that more Taiwanese will come and invest," he said.

"We needn't worry about the selling at all," Lin added.

Many coffee producers had already come to his farm and tried to persuade him to enter into cooperation contracts. While Goodsir is the only coffee farm operated by a Taiwanese family, Lin said many other Taiwanese business people were turning to him to look for farming opportunities on the mainland.

"I think we should be grateful for the fact that the Kuomintang (KMT) lost

governing power in 2000 in Taiwan after ruling the island for decades of years," Lin Chia-hsu said. "After KMT lost its supreme right in Taiwan, it turned its attention to enhance cross-strait cooperation and brought a lot of useful information to Taiwan."

KMT Honorary Chairman Lien Chan's visited Hainan as part of his fourth trip to the mainland, the first only having occurred in April 2005.

"Each trip achieves many effective results in terms of cross-strait agricultural cooperation, regardless of how strongly the ruling Democratic Progressive Party opposes and prevents cooperation," noted Kao Koong-lian, business management professor with Taiwan-based Chung Yuan Christian University.

Lin Chia-hsu's focus isn't on politics anyway.

"I'm seeing the mainland, or to be specific our farm, as an important business career development platform instead of politics," Lin Chia-hsu said.

Lin Chia-hsu acknowledged that the Chinese countryside isn't exactly paradise for business.

"There is a lot of deserted land in this province because in the past the local authorities rented a single piece of land to different renters, which leads to lots of wrangling," ƒ-hsu said. "Much land is actually very rich, but nobody dares to use it."

Lin mentioned other difficulties with locals, and also said transportation is not as effective as his family expects.

"But things are improving as we are getting accustomed to the local life," said Lin.

The whole family is looking forward to a major harvest next year, as well as opening a new chain of coffee stores in urban areas.

But at least for Lin Chia-hsu, the best part of cross-strait relations is just around the corner.

Lin Chia-hsu's wife, who is mainland Chinese, is expecting.

(1 hectare = 15 mu)