Fan Liqing, State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman, said the mainland government had announced a series of policies recently to stimulate economic growth through expanded market demands.

This would benefit a large number of Taiwanese-funded enterprises if the mainland could maintain a "steady and relatively fast growth" in the economy, she said.

The policies would focus on measures to expand Taiwanese investment into more sectors on the mainland, and to help businesses from Taiwan to participate in construction of major infrastructure projects.

Taiwanese businesses will be encouraged to invest more in the service industry, resources development, energy-saving and environmental-friendly industries, as well as projects in the mainland's central and western regions, Fan said.

With closer cooperation in financial services between the mainland and Taiwan, it would become more convenient for small and medium-sized enterprises from Taiwan to raise funds on the mainland, she added.

The spokeswoman also spoke highly of a cross-straits financial seminar which was underway in Beijing, saying this would promote substantial progress in cross-straits financial cooperation.

More than 400 bankers and financial experts from the mainland and Taiwan attended the seminar. They stressed that the two sides should work together to cope with the current crisis, as both sides have significant foreign exchange reserves and are closely linked in economic sectors.

The Chinese mainland is Taiwan's biggest trading partner, accounting for more than 20 percent of the island's total external trade last year.

More than 75,000 Taiwan-funded enterprises have invested in the Chinese mainland over the past 20 years, and investment from Taiwan may have exceeded 45 billion U.S. dollars if indirect capital movements are included, according to official statistics.

More than 4.8 million people shuttle between the two sides each year and bilateral trade rose to more than 120 billion U.S. dollars in 2007.