China pledged Sunday to offer up to 600 billion yuan ($95 billion) in credit to Taiwanese companies on the mainland as it furthered its campaign for reunification.

China pledged Sunday to offer up to 600 billion yuan ($95 billion) in credit to Taiwanese companies on the mainland as it furthered its campaign for reunification.

China will also increase access to mainland universities for Taiwanese teachers and students and allow direct cross-strait flights to three more mainland airports, Wang Yi, head of the cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office said.

"In order to help Taiwanese enterprises develop, mainland banks... will offer a 600 billion yuan credit ceiling over the next three to four years," Wang said in a speech at a forum in southeast China's Xiamen city.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Development Bank will be authorized to make the loans, he said.

Trade between China and Taiwan has boomed over the past two decades, increasing by 10 percent last year to $160 billion, according to China's trade ministry.

Ties improved markedly after Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party took power in 2008 on a platform of promoting trade and reconciliation with the mainland.

Taiwan has been a major investor in China in recent years, providing more than $100 billion in finance, according to some estimates, as well as offering crucial technological know-how.

Taiwan and China are still technically at war and Beijing has refused to renounce the use of force against the island despite the fact it has governed itself for more than six decades.