The Chinese mainland pledged to send more delegations to buy Taiwan products after notching up deals worth billions of dollars in the past month, a mainland official said Wednesday.

Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said mainland business delegations had played a positive role in offsetting the effects of global economic downturn on Taiwan.

Sending business groups to Taiwan and encouraging the purchase of Taiwan products showed sincerity and goodwill on the mainland's part, she said.

The mainland announced in mid-May in the Straits Forum that it would encourage companies to buy more Taiwan products.

After the announcement, the mainland organized three major purchasing delegations to Taiwan.

A week-long buying trip by a trade and culture delegation from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region ended up with the delegation signing 281 million U.S. dollars worth of contracts.

The purchases included electronics items, leather goods and farm produce, including 166 tonnes of fruit and 300 tonnes of tea.

A delegation of about 80 representatives from 35 companies, including IT and home appliance giants Lenovo, Haier, Changhong and ZTE, signed deals worth more than 2.2 billion U.S. dollars after a four-day visit to the island that ended on June 5.

On their shopping list were LCD (liquid crystal display) equipment, spare parts for mobile phones and computers, plastic and chemical products, textiles and handcrafts.

Another purchasing group from major TV manufacturers in the mainland agreed to expand panel buying contracts by 2.2 billion U.S. dollars during a trip to Taiwan in June.

The group had already agreed to purchase 2.2 billion U.S. dollars worth of Taiwan products in January.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2009)