A startup incubator on the outskirts of Shanghai is laying out sweeteners for budding entrepreneurs: Free office space, subsidized housing rent, tax breaks and in some cases, cash of up to 200,000 yuan ($31,000).

The main condition? Be from Taiwan.

The center, formally called the Jinshan Cross Strait Youth Entrepreneurship Base, is part of the new face of China's approach toward Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing considers a wayward province and over which it claims sovereignty.