Official Calls for Actual Steps to Improve Cross-Straits RelationsAn official of the Fujian Provincial Taiwan Affairs Office Wednesday urged the Taiwan Authorities to take actual steps to realize direct trade, transport and postal services across the Taiwan Straits.He was commenting on a recent decision made by the Taiwan authorities to approve direct trade and personnel exchange between Jinmen, Mazu and the coastal areas in Fujian Province beginning on the 2001 New Year's Day. The official said such a decision does not mean the direct services that people across the Straits have been longing for, and can not meet the daily increasing demand for personnel and trade exchange between the two sides of the Straits. The Taiwan authorities even proposed to carry out the decision "step by step" for "one-way" direct exchange. All this indicates that the Taiwan authorities lack sincerity and goodwill in realizing the direct services, the official pointed out. He stressed that the direct services are in the common interests of the people across the Straits. The mainland has done a lot and made everything ready for realizing the direct services, including the promulgation of a series of regulations on related matters. Considering that direct trade and personnel exchange between Jinmen, Mazu and Fujian's coastal areas is the long-standing aspiration of the people in Jinmen and Mazu, the people in Jinmen, Mazu and the mainland are compatriots, and the direct shipping services between Jinmen, Mazu and Fujian's coastal areas is a matter of internal shipping service with a country that is conducive to improving the living standards and economic development in Jinmen and Mazu, the mainland is willing to help, the official said. He called on non-governmental organizations in Jinmen, Mazu, Fuzhou and Xiamen to facilitate the two-way personnel and trade exchange across the Straits and do everything possible to simplify related procedures, in line with the principle for solving a country's internal affairs. The official noted that in the new century, if the Taiwan authorities actually take the happiness of the people in Taiwan into consideration, they should accept the "one China" principle as early as possible, lift all restrictions that are incompatible with the current situation, and take practical measures for the realization of the direct services across the Straits. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |