Asian Trader Inc. Partakes in High-Level Meetings and Talks in Beijing.

Business Editors

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000

Event Marks the 10th Anniversary of the Signing of a Trade and

Economic Coordination Agreement Between China and Taiwan

Asian Trader Inc. (&uot;Asian-Trader.com&uot;), which operates the web portal Asian-Trader.com, the world's first international online integrated commerce platform that allows US resellers to procure Asian products at manufacturer-direct pricing, recently participated in high-level trade and economic cooperation talks in Beijing between China and Taiwan.

This event, which took place December 19-25, 1999, also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the signing of an economic and trade coordination agreement between China's Economic and Trade Coordination Committee for the Two Sides of the Straits (&uot;ETCC&uot;) and its Taiwanese counterpart, The Business Development Foundation of the Chinese Straits (&uot;BDF&uot;).

Mr. Jakey Gan Hung-Jen, Executive Director of Asian-Trader and a Director of Quantum Group Inc (the parent company of Asian-Trader), was among a select group of 120 invitation-only delegates, many of whom were heads of large corporate groups in Taiwan, chosen to represent BDF. Its China counterpart, ETCC, sent approximately 200 delegates to this event; many of whom were senior corporate and government leaders of the country. Mr. Chang Pen-Tsao, current Chairman of BDF and also the Chairman of Taiwan International Securities Group, and Mr. James Jin, Vice-Chairman of BDF and Chairman of the Business Weekly media group, led the BDF delegation. Mr. Yu Xiao-Song, Chairman of ETCC and the present Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (&uot;CCPIT&uot;), and Mr. An Cheng-Xin, Vice-Chairman of ETCC and Vice-Chairman of CCPIT, led the ETCC delegation.

During these meetings, to acknowledge the ever-increasing trade and economic ties between China and Taiwan, a renewal agreement was signed between ETCC and BDF, effectively re-affirming the status of the two committees in resolving any trade, economic and investment issues between China and Taiwan. Furthermore, during keynote presentations made by the leaders of the two committees, the need for corporate leaders of today to migrate to an &uot;Internet standard&uot; was stressed as a critical success factor in the current Information Age. Electronic commerce was suggested as one of the major mediums in bridging and facilitating the growing trade and economic ties between the two sides of the Straits. Mr. Yu of CCPIT acknowledged both this inevitable adoption of an Internet standard as well as CCPIT's current alliance with Asian-Trader.com in helping PRC enterprises adopt an e-commerce culture.

By the end of 1998, cumulative trade between China and Taiwan had exceeded US$150 billion. Further, Taiwan had invested in the set-up of more than 40,000 factories in China. The set-up of BDF and ETCC as well as the historic trade and economic cooperation agreement signed between them in December 1989 reflected the growing trade and economic links between China and Taiwan. In particular, the cooperation pact signed was intended to give added comfort and protection to the growing numbers of Taiwanese investors into the mainland by assisting in the negotiation and arbitration of any trade or economic disputes/matters between the investors and their China counterparts.

Subsequent to the signing of this historic pact, many trade missions have been undertaken by both sides to help further and bridge their understanding of these two separate business cultures and their practices/regulations.

About Asian-Trader.com

Asian-Trader operates the world's first integrated Internet commerce hub. Utilizing advanced Internet technologies, the Asian-Trader.com platform offers seamless front-end as well as back-end commerce applications and superior customer service. With a wide base of high-quality Asian manufacturers, Asian-Trader offers its &uot;buyer&uot; members a diverse range of high quality consumer goods at manufacturer-direct prices.

Asian-Trader has offices in the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia as well as China. For more information on Asian-Trader.com, visit the company's website at http://www.asian-trader.com.

Editor's Note: For additional information on this announcement and/or Asian-Trader.com, contact JPR Communications at 818-386-0403, email: [e-mail]. For up-to-the minute information on the business environment in Asia, contact Erwin Wong, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Quantum Group Inc. and Asian-Trader Inc. Email: [e-mail].