The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council is working with banks and local governments to help mainland-based Taiwan firms survive the financial crisis, its spokeswoman Fan Liqing said on Wednesday.

The 130-billion-yuan (US$18.8 billion) support package that was promised at the 4th cross-Straits Economics and Trade Culture Forum in December is "on its way", she said.

Between December and January, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China extended more than 4 billion yuan in credit to 500 Taiwan firms on the mainland, she said.

Also, two symposiums will be held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and Dongguan, Guangdong Province, on Friday and Saturday, to let banks introduce details of their financial support for Taiwan firms, Fan said.

The regional governments of Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Chongqing have also set out policies, mainly concerning financial support, to encourage technological innovation and company renovation, she said.

In Fujian, the Xiamen government has promised 30-50 percent subsidies on loans to small- and medium-sized Taiwan firms, and allocated 10 million yuan to set up a Risk Compensation Fund for SMEs.

Fuzhou will support firms that are considered to have good prospects with its a technological innovation fund.

An official surnamed Weng from the Fuzhou Taiwan Businessmen Association said: "With financial support from the local government, I'm pretty optimistic about the future of Taiwan companies in Fuzhou."

More than 1,000 Taiwan companies in Fuzhou are struggling, and some have gone bankrupt, he said.

"What we want most is financial support, especially in terms of taxes and loans," he said.