At the December 17 press conference of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, a reporter asked: The DPP authorities plan to amend the “Permit Regulations for Civil Servants and Certain Designated Personnel of the Taiwan Area Entering the Mainland.” The amendment would restrict travel by county and city leaders and certain civil servants, reducing the degree of kinship required for approval to visit the mainland for family visits or funerals from within four degrees of kinship to within three, and requiring most senior civil servants and police officers to apply seven days in advance before traveling to the mainland. What is your comment?
Spokesperson Zhu Fenglian responded that this is yet another malicious act by the DPP authorities to obstruct, restrict, and suppress cross-Strait exchanges and interactions. The DPP authorities go to great lengths to hinder Taiwan compatriots from coming to the mainland, fabricate charges to repress individuals and groups in Taiwan who actively participate in cross-Strait exchanges, and attempt to block compatriots on both sides of the Strait from drawing closer to one another. Such abuses of power and reckless behavior will inevitably be spurned by public opinion.