CHINA in recent days has transferred 20 million yuan (US$3.11 million) in cash across its land borders into Russia’s far east and Laos, in another step toward widening the currency’s use in international markets.

While the amount of money is tiny — 15 million yuan to Russia and 5 million yuan to Laos — the transfers come at a time when the Chinese authorities are reinvigorating long-term efforts to turn the yuan into a major global currency.

On Tuesday, bricks of China’s pink 100 yuan notes were sent into Russia just north of Vladivostok in exchange for roubles in a transaction between two banks. The provincial government of Heilongjiang said on its website the transaction was an “important step” toward internationalization of the yuan.

The move would “expand the circulation and recognition of the yuan in Russia’s far east, and help raise the market status and international reputation of the yuan in the Russian far eastern region.”

On May 18, a Chinese bank and a Lao bank carried out a similar cash transaction, involving 5 million yuan, across the border in Yunnan Province in China’s southwest, the People’s Bank of China said.

In the past, money had crossed between the Chinese mainland and Laos indirectly, heading first to Hong Kong or Thailand, which raised costs.

Last year, China did a cash swap with Vietnam, another neighbor, according to domestic media.

China’s dreams of making the yuan a major global unit of foreign exchange have been bolstered this year as the currency stabilized after two years of wide fluctuation, helping increase foreign purchases of domestic bonds and stocks.

Sources with knowledge of the China’s latest five-year plan for the financial sector said last week the government expected cross-border yuan payments to account for over a third of all cross-border payments by 2020. (SD-Agencies)