The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) expressed its approval yesterday for China's relaxation on controls over Internet access to Taiwanese news Web sites.
According to MAC Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳), news Web sites run by Taiwanese media groups such as the China Times and the United Daily News, which were blocked by Chinese authorities in the past, are now accessible in some areas of China, including Beijing and Dongguan, Guangdong Province.
Liu said the MAC welcomed the development and hoped Beijing would remove Internet controls completely in the near future so that all users in China could freely obtain information about Taiwan.
Taiwan would consider restoring a permit allowing China's state-controlled Xinhua news agency and People's Daily to post correspondents in Taiwan if Beijing responds positively to the call, Liu said.
In April 2005, the MAC suspended permits allowing the two media outlets to post correspondents in Taiwan on the grounds that they had repeatedly filed "misleading reports."
As a condition for resuming the permits, the MAC said, China must remove its blockade against the China Times and the United Daily News Web sites.
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