SHANGHAI - CHINESE firms will buy US$2 billion (S$2.9 billion) of flat-screen monitors from Taiwanese companies as part of a pledge to aid the island's economy in the face of the global downturn, state media reported.

Wang Yi, director of the Communist Party's Taiwan Affairs Office, made the announcement at a forum between officials and businessmen from the two sides that ended on Sunday, the Xinhua news agency said.

Other measures agreed included a Chinese offer for Taiwanese businesses on the mainland of US$19 billion in financing over the next three years, Xinhua said.

Relations between China and Taiwan have improved rapidly since the election in March of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who has promised closer ties.

His election ended eight years of rule by Chen Shui-bian, whose pro-independence rhetoric inflamed China. -- AFP