The Chinese mainland has reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing youth exchanges across the Taiwan Straits and has urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan to lift existing restrictions on cross-Straits travel.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, welcomed more young people from Taiwan to visit the mainland. “We encourage and welcome youth from the island of Taiwan to come and experience the mainland,” Zhu said.
Zhu’s remarks came in response to media inquiries about an upcoming visit by faculty and students from seven mainland universities, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Fudan University. Scheduled for late November, the visit is at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation based in Taiwan.
This exchange serves as a reciprocal visit following Ma Ying-jeou’s trip earlier this year, during which the former chairperson of the Kuomintang led a group of students from Taiwan to visit universities on the mainland.
In addition to promoting youth exchanges, Zhu highlighted the recent resumption of travel by residents of Fujian Province to the Kinmen and Matsu islands. As of October 31, mainland immigration authorities had processed 58,735 travel permit applications to these islands.
“These figures reflect the strong enthusiasm among mainland residents to visit Kinmen and Matsu,” Zhu noted, emphasizing that the mainland will continue to facilitate group tourism to Taiwan as part of efforts to enhance cross-Straits relations.
“We hope the DPP authorities will heed the voices of the public and remove restrictions on cross-Straits exchanges at an early date,” the spokesperson added.
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Mainland urges DPP to lift cross-Straits travel restrictions
cgtn.com
