BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland has authorized its main renminbi (RMB) clearing bank in Hong Kong, the Bank of China Hong Kong Branch, to offer banknotes to Taiwan's commercial banks in Hong Kong, after Taiwan was reportedly short of RMB banknotes.

Yang Yi, the mainland's Taiwan affairs spokesman, made the remarks on Wednesday at a news briefing when asked to comment that RMB banknotes with a face value of more than 40 million yuan (5.99 million U.S. dollars) had been transferred to Taiwan.

Yang said the move was a "big step forward" in cross-Strait financial cooperation and said it would have a positive effect on the promotion of financial cooperation and economic development on both sides.

Demand for RMB banknotes has increased over the past year after the two sides launched direct flights in December 2008.

Previously, buying RMB banknotes was no trouble for Taiwanese tourists to the mainland as their flights had to stop in either Hong Kong or Macao where they could easily buy the notes.

Buying RMB banknotes in Taiwan has been complicated in the past because of the lack of banking and financial relations between the mainland and Taiwan. Taiwan banks could only source a limited amount of RMB banknotes from HSBC or Bank of America in Hong Kong, which was more expensive than buying the notes directly from the Bank of China.