A Chinese mainland official on Wednesday urged Taiwan authorities to lift a ban on two leading mainland news organizations stationing reporters to Taiwan.

"We hope Taiwan authorities will accept stationed reporters from the Xinhua News Agency and the People's Daily as soon as possible," said Yang Yi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, at a press conference.

Taiwan authorities should promote media exchanges by "practical moves", said Yang, while commenting on Taiwan's recent welcome remarks of the accessibility to Taiwan-based websites from the mainland.

He said the mainland had unified regulations on media, which did not vary by region or aim at particular websites or regions.

"The mainland has been encouraging and supporting media exchanges of the two sides," said Yang.

Reporters from Taiwan had been allowed to report from the mainland since 1993, but the Taiwan authorities had hampered the exchanges, he said.

By April 2005, 12 Taiwan media organizations had stationed reporters in mainland cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

Taiwan authorities announced limited access to journalists from the mainland in 2000. Five mainland official news organizations - Xinhua News Agency, the People's Daily, China Central Television

(CCTV), China National Radio and the China News Service - were granted permission to station reporters in Taiwan.

In April 2005, the Taiwan authorities barred Xinhua News Agency and the People's Daily from stationing reporters on the island, arguing that their journalists reported conflicting opinions to those held by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan authorities.

"This move severely violated the reporting rights of Xinhua and the People's Daily and the rights of their clients and readers, arousing condemnation from the media of both sides," said Yang.

Source: Xinhua