Trade between the mainland and Taiwan of China reached a record 58.37 billion US dollars in 2003, Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said Wednesday.

In the first 11 months last year, trade between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits reached 52.25 billion US dollars, an increase of 29.8 percent over the same period of the previous year.

Li said the mainland approved 4,495 projects funded by Taiwanese investors last year, which involved 8.56 billion US dollars of contractual capital.

He said personnel exchanges and trade across the Taiwan Straits were influenced by the SARS crisis last year, but rapidly resumed in the second half of 2003, which further proved that close trade ties could benefit both sides.

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