Taiwan and China will be allowed to collaborate in filming television series beginning in August and the productions will be eligible for Taiwan's Golden Bell Awards, the head of the Cabinet-level Government Information Office (GIO) confirmed Saturday. GIO Minister Su Jun-pin told the Central News Agency that the Department of Broadcasting Affairs under his agency has drafted guidelines governing such collaboration and said they are scheduled to take effect in August. According to the guidelines, personnel connected to television series will be divided into three categories -- actors; main production personnel, including producers, directors and script writers; and technical specialists in charge of filming, lighting, sound recording, sound effects, editing and animation. The guidelines stipulate that at least 30 percent of the personnel in joint production projects between Taiwan and China should be Taiwanese, while the number from China cannot exceed one-third. However, the participation of other nationalities are not limited in the guidelines. Other principles mandate that main sets, both inside and outside the studio, should be located in Taiwan and post-production work such as editing, special effects and sound effects should be completed in Taiwan unless such equipment or technologies are not available locally. Moreover, promotion of Communism and campaigns aimed at promoting unification between Taiwan and China are not allowed in joint productions, according to the guidelines, and no symbol of the Chinese Communist Party can be shown unless it is necessary. Ho Nai-chi, head of the GIO's Department of Broadcasting Affairs, said that qualified collaboration projects will be viewed as 'home productions' by each party and are therefore not required to be reviewed before production. They will also be eligible to run for Taiwan's Golden Bell Awards, which honor the country's top television shows. Noting that the guidelines were drafted earlier this year, Ho said they were put off due to concerns expressed by the Taipei Show Business Union that the liberalization would encourage producers to replace Taiwanese actors with their Chinese counterparts. Rebutting such concerns, Ho contended that such joint productions will raise the number of TV projects undertaken and increase acting opportunities for Taiwanese actors. 'As television advertising continues to shrink, Taiwanese television stations have to rely on foreign markets because they cannot survive on one single market,' Ho argued. He believes that only through joint productions can Taiwanese TV series become prime time programs in China, which is the biggest Chinese-speaking market in the world. 'It will create a positive circle, as actors will have more opportunities as their popularity rises, and TV stations will make more money from commercials and licensing fees, which will give them the means to invest in more productions,' Ho said. 