BEIJING - The Chinese mainland will continue to strengthen protection of the rights and interests of Taiwan compatriots after progress was made last year in processing complaints, a mainland official said here Wednesday.

Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference that the office had settled 54.9 percent of the 319 complaints it received from Taiwan compatriots at the end of last year.

The settlement rate was higher than 2009, said Fan, without giving an exact figure.

Local offices in charge of Taiwan affairs received 2,261 complaints last year, of which 91.6 percent were settled.

Fan said last year also saw progress by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) in overseeing the implementation of a law protecting Taiwan investments and investigating complaints concerning land.

China enacted a special law protecting Taiwan compatriots' investments in 1994. The Standing Committee of the NPC carried out the first official survey of its implementation in 1995, and last year was the second.

At the beginning of last year, Hua Jianmin and Yan Junqi, vice chairmen of the Standing Committee of the NPC, China's top legislative body, led delegations to examine the enforcement of the law in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Fujian provinces and Shanghai, where Taiwan investment is concentrated.

After receiving the report of the examination groups, the NPC Standing Committee agreed that laws and regulations should be improved to effectively safeguard Taiwan compatriots' interests.

This year, the mainland would continue discussing with Taiwan an investment protection agreement, and strengthen legislative work to protect Taiwan compatriots' rights and interests, said Fan.

Cross-Strait trade from January to November last year hit a record $131.7 billion , an increase of 39.7 percent year on year. Over the same period, the mainland approved 2,727 investment projects from Taiwan, an increase of 21.9 percent year on year.