The Chinese mainland is willing to boost cooperation between financial sectors across the Taiwan Strait to jointly cope with the international turmoil, a senior official said in Beijing on Wednesday.

"When the global financial turmoil is worsening, we encourage financial sectors on both sides of the Strait to carry out cooperation in various fields and through various ways," said Wang Yi, director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a meeting with a Taiwan business delegation headed by Jeffrey L.S. Koo, China trust Financial Holding Co. Ltd chairman.

He expressed the mainland's expectation to speed up talks between the two sides and realize "comprehensive, direct and mutual" links for mail, trade and transport as early as possible.

"We expect to normalize the economic ties between the two sides and, step by step, establish a cooperative mechanism which is for mutual benefits and based on the cross-Straits characteristics," Wang said.

Since May, cross-Straits relations have gone through a key turning point while exchanges and cooperation welcomed a new start with valuable changes, he said.

It is a common wish of people on both sides and a direction of historic trend to enhance exchanges, promote economic cooperation and trade and push forward the cross-Straits relations, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2008)