BEIJING -- The mainland's Taiwan affairs chief on Thursday expressed confidence in promoting the cross-strait relations in an all-round way in 2013.

Wang Yi, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks while extending Chinese Lunar New Year greetings to Taiwanese via the government-run website www.taiwan.cn.

Wang said 2012 was a year full of progress, and he is confident in achieving a steady and comprehensive development of cross-strait relations in 2013.

The mainland will do more down-to-earth things and create more benefits for Taiwanese in 2013, said Wang, also the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

In the new year, the mainland will continue to consolidate the mutual political trust foundation and expand cross-strait exchanges and cooperations in various fields, said Wang.