Cross-Straits exchanges have experienced "extraordinary
development" and their scope has greatly expanded over the past two
decades, according to the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State
Council.
More than 46 million visits to the mainland, twice the
population of Taiwan, will have been made by people from the island
by the end of this year, said Dai Xiaofeng, director of the
office's exchange bureau.
The official added that 1.6 million visits to Taiwan would be
made by people from the mainland.
Dai made the statement on Thursday ahead of the 20th anniversary
of the lifting of the mainland visit ban by the Taiwan authorities
on November 2, 1987.
Nearly 400,000 Taiwan people currently live on the mainland,
including more than 18,000 who have settled down, Dai told the
Xinhua News Agency.
Notably, there are about 270,000 "cross-Straits marriages"
between people from the mainland and Taiwan.
Noting that cross-Straits communication was an "irreversible
trend of the era", Dai also pointed out that the Taiwan authorities
tended to limit exchanges, which were greatly affected by
secessionist moves in Taiwan.
Wu Chi-feng, a 32-year-old Taiwanese architect who now works in
Shanghai and is married to a mainlander, said that the island's
authorities discriminate against brides from the mainland.
For instance, mainland wives can apply for naturalization only
after living in Taiwan for eight years, and they are not permitted
to work for most of that period.
Brides from Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines can be
naturalized in four years, and they can work after the first six
months.
"The rules on mainland brides are so rigid, and very unfair,"
said Wu.
Dai also mentioned the mainland had drawn up a package of
policies to boost cross-Straits exchanges.
They include 54 preferential measures for Taiwan compatriots
promulgated since 2005 and 48 economic, trade and cultural exchange
policies since 2006.
"Up to now, the mainland has carried out all planned
preferential policies for Taiwan, and is actively promoting the
settlement of issues that require consultation by both sides," Dai
said.
The mainland last month proposed the establishment of a peace
agreement with Taipei while calling for a formal end to the state
of hostilities across the Taiwan Straits which has existed since
1949.
Addressing the recently concluded 17th National Congress of the
Communist Party of China (CPC), Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central
Committee, pledged that the mainland would continue to implement
and develop policies and measures that benefit Taiwan
compatriots.
It will also protect their legitimate rights and interests on
the mainland.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily November 3, 2007)