Beijing-based property developer Vantone Holdings Co (萬通控股) yesterday urged Taiwan to ease investment rules and allow Chinese capital to develop vacation and retirement homes in Taiwan, citing the huge business potential amid an aging regional population.

Speaking at a property forum in Taipei, Vantone chairman Feng Lun (馮侖) said his company is searching for sites in southern Taiwan to develop its second residential complex.

“Many people in Taiwan, China, Japan and elsewhere in Asia are aging, creating sturdy demand for retirement and vacation homes in the region,” the Chinese property tycoon told a forum.

Taiwanese authorities should recognize the business opportunity and remove investment hurdles for potential investors from China and other places, Feng said.

The Ministry of the Interior recently made a regulatory concession by approving 44 home deals at a complex developed by Vantone in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水).

The go-ahead came at variance with a 2015 rule that caps the number of Chinese buyers at 10 percent of a residential complex. With the ratio climbing to 40 percent at the complex, the ministry had withheld transfer approval, prompting the Chinese buyers to take legal action, which they won in May.

Feng said the twist lent support to his decision to invest in Taiwan, adding that he would continue investing.

Vantone launched the vacation home complex in 2011 and finished its construction in 2014, allowing the buyers to argue that the 2015 rule should not retroactively apply to them.

Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said the Vantone project is an isolated case that should not be seen as an outright deregulation.

One of the buyers is reportedly a ranking executive at e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), according to Chinese-language media.

Feng, the only Chinese developer with an investment in Taiwan, said a ceiling of 30 percent is more reasonable, citing Thailand as an example, which allows foreigners to own up to 49 percent of a residential complex.

The government could consider introducing a quota system or limit Chinese buyers to specific locations so it could better monitor their movements for national security reasons, Feng said.

Many wealthy Chinese like to spend vacations abroad in places within a short flight from China, boosting the travel and tourism sectors in neighboring nations, he said.

The business opportunity can extend to the real-estate market in Taiwan if authorities would allow Chinese to stay longer than four months a year, Feng said.

Other developers share his views and Taiwan should seize the opportunity, he said.