BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland is actively considering an "appropriate way" to set up a cross-Strait currency clearing mechanism and expects early progress in this regard, a government spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Expanding cross-Strait economic exchanges and increasing mutual visits require the two sides across the Taiwan Strait to establish a mechanism for currency clearing without delay, Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, told a press conference here.

She said the mainland already allowed mutual conversion of New Taiwan Dollar and RMB cross-border trade settlement to be conducted on a larger scale in the mainland.

"No policies of the Chinese mainland are any obstacle to cross-Strait trade settlement in RMB," she added.

Under a cross-Strait agreement, the Chinese mainland had authorized the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, to provide RMB cash settlement services to Taiwan, she said.

"These measures have laid a foundation for a cross-Strait currency clearing mechanism," Fan said.

The set-up of the mechanism has been included into China's 12th five-year development plan starting this year.