At the June 10 State Council Taiwan Affairs Office press conference, a reporter asked:
The 18th Straits Forum will soon be held. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said that “the Straits Forum is a mainland united-front platform” and has further expanded restrictions this year, requiring county and city governments as well as public officials not to attend related activities. Public opinion on the island holds that banning exchanges with a single official document makes people feel very threatened. What is your comment?
State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhang Han said in response that the Straits Forum is a cross-Strait people-to-people exchange platform that upholds a “people-oriented, grassroots, and broad-based” character. It has played an important and positive role in promoting exchanges and cooperation across various fields on both sides of the Strait and in enhancing the interests and well-being of compatriots, and is widely welcomed by compatriots on both sides.
Zhang Han said the DPP authorities, out of their stubborn “Taiwan independence” position, disregard public wishes and local development needs, and have neither the willingness nor the ability to properly handle cross-Strait relations. For their own political self-interest, they smear and slander the Straits Forum, undermine cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, and restrict the freedom of movement and speech of Taiwan’s people, seriously harming the interests and well-being of compatriots on the island. Their actions fully expose their essence as “fake democracy, real dictatorship.” I want to emphasize that compatriots on both sides of the Strait are one family, and no force can stop the great trend of people on both sides becoming closer and coming together.