Communications with Taiwan Media Anticipated: OfficialThe Chinese mainland sincerely hopes to strengthen communications with the Taiwan media, according to an official with the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).Li Bingcai, vice president of the Beijing-based association, expressed a warm welcome Wednesday when meeting with a delegation composed of leaders and top officials with the Taiwan media. Li said at the meeting that the cross-Straits economic exchanges and cooperation have witnessed great progress in recent years, reaching a considerable scale. The indirect cross-Straits trade volume has accumulated to nearly 200 billion U.S. dollars so far, and the Chinese mainland has approved the opening of some 50,000 Taiwan-funded enterprises, with a contractual investment of 46 billion U.S dollars. The "three direct links" have also achieved partial progress, said Li, but, they do not meet the needs of compatriots on the two sides of the Straits as well as the demands in cross-Strait exchanges in the economic, cultural and many other fields. Li urged the strengthening of economic exchanges and cooperation across the Straits, promising that the Chinese mainland will continue to encourage Taiwan compatriots to invest in the mainland, and their legal rights and interests will be safeguarded according to laws and regulations. Li also expressed the hope that the Taiwan authorities should acknowledge the "one-China" principle and promote the "three direct links" to facilitate the further development of economic exchanges and cooperation across the Straits. The delegation has visited several key media units in the Chinese mainland over the past two days, including the Xinhua News Agency, the People's Daily and CCTV. |
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