Taiwan is urged to lift the ban on the operations of reporters from the mainland's Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily on the island as quickly as possible.

"Active efforts should be made to promote the smooth development of cross-Straits journalistic exchange. If the Taiwan side is sincere in promoting the exchanges, the most immediate thing it should do is to lift as quickly as possible the ban on the reporting work of journalists from mainland-based People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency on the island," said Li Weiyi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council at a press conference on June 15, 2005.

Li said, when reviewing the development of journalistic exchanges across the Taiwan Straits, people can see clearly that the mainland has constantly held a positive attitude in boosting such exchanges and has taken many related measures. Regrettably, the Taiwan side has always been passive in the process, and some people even created difficulties. Taiwan authorities' ban on journalists from People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency from reporting on the island is just a typical example.

The ban has come under wide criticism from the press and reports on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and some regarded the move as "driving in reverse gear in cross-Straits exchanges," said Li.

By People's Daily Online