BEIJING - Courts from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan have been cooperating with each other on a growing number of cases, a spokesman with the Supreme People's Court (SPC) has said.

Sun Jungong revealed Thursday that courts in the mainland have helped with 37,423 cases heard by Taiwan courts since a judicial aid pact in June 2009.

The process usually involves sending legal documents to people involved in cases on the other side of the Taiwan strait, investigations, transfers of evidence or suspects and ratification of rulings.

The number of cases with where the mainland required Taiwan's help in 2013 surpassed those from all previous years combined.

Sun said that cross-Strait legal cooperation is efficient, with a clear up rate of more than 86 percent.

"With high closure rates, this pact benefits both civilians and the judicial process," said He Zhonglin, a senior official with the SPC's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan affairs office.