BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- A mainland spokesman on Wednesday called on Taiwan authorities to allow Justin Yifu Lin, a former Taiwan army officer who came to the mainland and become a top economist, to visit his hometown on the island.
"In the new situation of cross-Strait peaceful development, we hope the Taiwan authorities will handle it with humanitarian consideration and approve the visit of Lin and his wife to their relatives or to pay respects to their ancestors at an early date," said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference.
Lin, 61, was a soldier in Taiwan's army in his twenties. He swam several km to east China's Fujian Province in 1979. He studied at Peking University before obtaining a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. He worked as the World Bank's senior vice president between 2008 and 2012.
Lin has applied to pay homage to his ancestors in Taiwan, but Taiwanese authorities still regard him as a defector and insist on not pardoning him.
Also at the conference, Ma said that the mainland supports various methods which are conducive to the educational communication across the Strait, and expressed his expectation that Taiwan would ease restrictions to provide impartial treatment to mainland students studying in Taiwan.
Ma said that Taiwan authorities should attend the informal leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) according to its memorandum of understanding, and the mainland has always supported exchanges between the two sides to promote peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.
Ma said that the mainland will support exchanges in every field between the two sides, and resolutely oppose "Taiwan independence."
"On the political basis of '1992 Consensus,' the relationship across the Strait will be constantly improved for the benefit of each other," said Ma. "Both sides are still planning the visit of Taiwan's mainland affairs chief Wang Yu-chi to the mainland," said Ma.
In response to a question on a six-month-old panda cub that has attracted thousands of visitors, Ma expressed his hope that the cub would bring more joy to Taiwan people, especially the kids.
