BEIJING, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The China State Administration for Industry and Commerce (CSAIC) issued a circular on Thursday ordering its local branches to strengthen protection of trademarks of farm products originating from Taiwan in an effort to promote cross-Straits cooperation in the agricultural sector.

The circular asked its administrative branches to step up the protection of Taiwanese applicants' legal rights in trademark registration.

It also told the branches to earnestly pursue their responsibility in market supervision and protect the intellectual property rights of agricultural products from Taiwan, especially in the fruit market. Fake trademarks, false advertising and infringement of registered trademarks will be seriously punished, it said.

Statistics show that cross-Straits trade in agricultural products had totaled 421 million U.S. dollars by the end of 2004 and closer ties in the last three years have spurred an influx of Taiwanese produce into the mainland market.

The mainland has granted market access to 22 categories of Taiwan fruit and removed tariffs on 15 of them. It has also removed tariffs from 11 categories of vegetables and eight kinds of aquatic products.

"Mainland consumers have reported a robust demand for quality farm produce from Taiwan, including its tropical fruit, flowers, seeds and seedlings," said He Ziyang, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture, at a cross-Straits trade fair held last month in Xiamen.