BEIJING -- A mainland official on Wednesday called on Taiwanese authorities to expand the island's quota for mainland films.
"The mainland currently has no quota restrictions on films from Taiwan, and we hope Taiwan can reciprocate the gesture by loosening its limits," said Yang Yi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
Yang made the remarks in response to a question concerning the top-grossing domestic movie in the mainland market, which will not be shown in Taiwan due to the island's import quota.
"Lost in Thailand," a low-budget comedy that premiered in late 2012, had raked in more than 1.2 billion yuan (192.8 million U.S. dollars) as of Jan. 20, making it the highest-grossing Chinese mainland movie to date.
Taiwan allows 10 mainland movies to be shown in its theaters each year, and the island has resorted to drawing lots to decide which movies from the mainland will hit Taiwanese screens.
The spokesman also confirmed that mainland entertainers can not engage in commercial performances in Taiwan.
"Some friends coming back from Taiwan have told me it seems that entertainers can not perform there," said Yang, adding that some problems still exist despite sound cross-Strait cultural exchanges.
"We hope that Taiwanese authorities can adopt further measures to lift restrictions and facilitate the sound development of cross-Strait cultural exchanges. It can help people between the two sides learn more about each other and boost the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations," he added.
Yang also addressed Taiwanese concerns over cross-Strait cultural relics exhibitions, calling such concerns unnecessary.
Cultural relics exhibitors from Taiwan are concerned about the transparency of Chinese mainland law in regards to cultural relics, and Taiwanese entities looking to exhibit such relics have called for an immunity from seizure clause.
"We support and encourage cultural exchanges in the form of cultural relics exhibitions across the Strait," said Yang. "It is to commonly inherit and carry forward the Chinese civilization."
