A spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on September 28 urged Taiwan authorities to clear the obstacles blocking exchanges and cooperation across the Taiwan Straits.

    The spokesman, Li Weiyi, said that lots of work has been done recently to carry out the agreements reached between Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Lien Chan and James CY Soong, respectively former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) and chairman of the People First Party (PFP) in Taiwan.

    The agreements were reached when Lien and Soong led their party delegations to visit the mainland in April and May respectively.

    At a regular news briefing here on Wednesday, Li said the mainland has taken concrete actions to fulfill the promises made to the Taiwan compatriots, and has actively pushed forward the implementation of affairs which need cross-Straits consultations.

    He expressed the hope that the Taiwan authorities can comply with the will of the people on both sides of the Straits, and change its negative attitude toward cross-Straits exchanges.

    The artificial restrictions on cross-Straits exchanges should be removed in the interests of the Taiwan compatriots, said Li.