BEIJING - The Bank of China (BOC), China's third-largest lender, announced Monday it will provide RMB loans worth 200 billion yuan ($31.75 billion) in the coming three years to Taiwan businesses based in the mainland.

The bank said the lending support aims to help Taiwan enterprises in the Chinese mainland to further grow their business and promote cross-Straits economic and trade relations.

The bank said it has so far established business relations with more than 700 Taiwanese-funded companies, providing them with nearly 170 billion yuan of loans over the last three years.