In view of the pressing need to enhance cross-Taiwan Strait financial cooperation, a noted Chinese academic believes that Taiwan and China should use Shanghai as the starting point for such cooperation. Song Fengming, a professor of finance at National Tsinghua University in Beijing, will put forth the suggestion on Sunday when he presents a paper at a two-day seminar on cross-strait relations sponsored by the Pacific Cultural Foundation. According to Song, Shanghai would be suitable as the starting point for cross- strait financial cooperation due to its prominent status as China's financial hub, while Taiwan could also designate an exclusive trial zone to boost exchanges with Shanghai in the sector. Under such a program, the currencies of the two sides could be freely convertible in Shanghai, while Taiwan's financial institutions would be allowed to set up branches or affiliates in Shanghai instead of just being able to open offices there, Song argued. In addition, he said, the Shanghai and Taiwan stock exchanges should collaborate in injecting momentum into each other's bourses by marketing more diverse products, such as ETFs (exchange traded funds) that can cross-listed on both sides. The scholar believes that if relations between the banking sectors of the two sides are not tight enough, it will have a direct impact on trade ties and the availability and convenience of bank financing, and he suggested that banks be selected to serve as financial cooperation gateways. Deng Lijuan, vice president of the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, will also present a paper that urges Chinese authorities to use Fujian province as the first trial zone in their efforts to launch financial cooperation with Taiwan -- namely, through a Western Taiwan Straits Economic Region in Fujian. Deng strongly supports Fujian as the pioneer in initiating cross-strait financial collaboration with Taiwan, citing firm backing from the central and Fujian provincial authorities and strong market demand between Fujian and Taiwan, which lie opposite each other across the Taiwan Strait. 