More than 70,000 Taiwan-funded projects had been approved on the mainland during the period, and the actual amount of investment reported over 43 billion U.S. dollars, said Tang Wei, an official with the Commerce Ministry who is in charge of trade affairs between the mainland and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

He made the remarks at an expo on economic and technological cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, which opened on Saturday in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan Province.

"The Chinese mainland has become the largest export market and the largest source of favourable balance of trade for Taiwan," Ye Kedong, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, told the expo.

By the end of last June, Taiwan enjoyed 363.4 billion U.S. dollars of favourable balance of trade with the mainland.

The expo was attended by senior lawmaker He Luli and senior political advisor Zhang Meiying from the mainland and Chiang Pin-kung, vice-chairman of Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party from Taiwan.

The three-day event also attracted about 120 businesses, including 70 from Taiwan.