The Chinese mainland and Taiwan have proposed improving economic and financial cooperation to jointly cope with the worsening global financial crisis.

The 4th Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum was concluded on Sunday afternoon, where participants after two days of discussion came up with a nine-point suggestion for the two sides to mutually support each other and weather the economic downturn.

The forum advised the mainland and Taiwan to give each other financial and economic support, and start consultations as soon as possible on building regulatory cooperation mechanisms for the banking, securities and insurance sectors.

The two sides were also urged to participate in each other's increasing domestic demand and infrastructure construction, improve cooperation in service and fishery sectors, improve cross-Straits direct sea and air transport, and realize the normalization of cross-Straits economic ties and establish economic cooperation mechanism.

Also at the forum, the mainland announced 10 measures for enhancing economic cooperation with the island, including giving support to the development of Taiwanese-funded companies on the mainland and promoting two-way investment.

For example, as support to Taiwanese-funded enterprises which have been feeling the pinch from the global crisis, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China will offer 50 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) each to finance them in two to three years. The China Development Bank will offer another 30 billion yuan to them in three years in addition to its previous30 billion yuan.

At the closing ceremony of the event, Jia Qinglin, member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, said the suggestions would exert a positive influence on the decision-making of relevant authorities, and the 10 measures demonstrated the mainland's sincere efforts to benefit the Taiwan compatriots.

Jia, also chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, expressed the hope that the two sides would work together to further improve cross-Straits industrial cooperation and their cooperation in finance and service sectors so that the consultations could make substantial progress.

"The future of the cross-Straits ties is in the hands of the compatriots on both sides," he said, urging them to make concerted efforts to expand exchanges and cooperation and bring peaceful development to the relations.

Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung also said the two sides should shelve differences and promote cooperation, and urged the KMT-CPC platform to actively play its role to "make up for the time lost in the past."

He suggested the forum be held at least once a year and be more inclusive to seek greater common ground for the peace and development of the cross-Straits ties.

Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, said the aim of the forum was to gather opinions, seek consensus and provide reference for decision-making on both sides.

All topics that serve the needs of cross-Straits relations and benefit the peaceful development of the relations should be included in future forums, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 22, 2008)