A Chinese central government spokesman urged Taiwan authorities on June 29 to lift a ban on the normal journalistic operations of reporters of Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily, two leading news organizations on the mainland.

The call was made by a spokesman with the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council at a regular press conference in Beijing.

The Taiwan authorities suspended the two news organizations' right to send correspondents to Taiwan to cover local news in late March, with no justifiable reasons. Such practice has come under criticism from media organizations on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, some of which even called it an action of "turning back the clock in cross-Straits exchanges."

Source: Xinhua