DPP authorities responsible for cross-Strait travel obstacles: spokesperson

BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Friday stressed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities should bear full responsibility for the obstacles facing the cross-Strait travel.

Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to the DPP authorities' accusation that the mainland is to blame for travel obstructions across the Taiwan Strait.

Chen noted that since 2020, the DPP authorities have banned mainland residents from visiting Taiwan and prohibited local travel agencies from organizing group tours to the mainland, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse.

To date, the DPP authorities still ignore the appeal of the tourism industry and the Taiwan people to lift travel restrictions. They even upgraded an alert for Taiwan residents traveling to the mainland, he said.

Chen reaffirmed that the mainland will take active measures to expand residents' travel to Taiwan as long as the DPP authorities stop obstructing cross-Strait exchanges.

The mainland announced the resumption of Fujian Province residents' travel to Kinmen and Mazu earlier this year. As of Oct. 31, mainland immigration authorities had processed 58,735 travel permit applications for travel to the two islands, according to the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.