Authorities in Xiamen, a city in Fujian province, say they will consider hiring Taiwan residents for government jobs.

"We could do some trials to have Taiwan residents in our civil service on contract," said Yu Weiguo, Xiamen Party chief. "The positions that might be open might be those that have to do with economic and cultural exchanges between Xiamen and Taiwan."

Fujian, which faces Taiwan across the Straits, proposed the idea earlier this year.

The province will explore ways to allow Taiwan residents to work in the civil service and to take part in the management of social and public affairs, said an article that appeared on the Fujian Provincial Administration of Civil Service's website in May.

"Until now, no Taiwan resident has taken a government job in Fujian," said an officer in the Fujian Provincial Administration of Civil Service's position management office on Tuesday. "But we are considering offering some low-level positions, first on Pingtan Island, a test development zone," said the officer, who declined to give his full name.

Peng Weixue, a Taiwan studies expert at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the mainland and Taiwan have taken to exchanging workers with each other more and more often. Still, it is not easy to include Taiwan residents in the mainland's civil service.

"Taiwan's laws forbid residents from taking government jobs on the mainland," he said. "Those barriers can be removed only if Taiwan authorities amend those laws."

Peng said Taiwan and Xiamen are seeing more cooperation and exchanges with each other.

Fujian, a place with many policies pertaining to Taiwan, already allows Taiwan residents who study in Fujian to stay there to work after they have graduated. Beyond that, the province started in 2009 to hire Taiwan residents for jobs in hospitals, public schools, regional investment-promotion organizations and other institutions affiliated with the government.

Unlike contract work, those positions carry more housing and other types of benefits.

Chen Ching-tsao, a 33-year-old resident from Taiwan, obtained a doctorate degree at Peking University and became a teacher at Xiamen University this past year.

"Such policies provide a fair way that Taiwan workers can compete with those on the mainland," he said. "Because of these policies, Taiwan students that study here can have more options when they graduate."

In July 2010, Fujian's labor authorities opened 15 jobs in institutions affiliated with the government to Taiwan workers. And in March, Xiamen opened six positions at hospitals and schools to Taiwan residents who obtain a master's degree from a mainland university this year.

Yu Weiguo said Xiamen will open even more jobs to workers from Taiwan in the coming years, especially as the economic and cultural ties between the two places become stronger.

This past year, Xiamen benefited from $340 million in investments from Taiwan. And more than 2,600 direct flights have occurred between Xiamen and Taiwan cities in the first nine months of the year, 88 percent more than had in the same period this past year.