"I hope the Taiwan tourism authorities take measures to strengthen travel safety, as several accidents occurred last year injuring mainland tourists," he said.

Fan also said that the mainland welcomes Taiwan's construction of a 5.4-km bridge linking two islands in Kinmen, an archipelago near Xiamen, Fujian, which will encourage more mainland visitors to Taiwan. Construction is scheduled to begin in May.

"We support any effort that will help promote Taiwan's economy and the people's exchanges across the Straits," Fan said.

Last month, Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Wu Po-hsiung, honorary chairman of the Kuomintang party, met in Beijing.

Both leaders called on the two sides to enhance relations through more cultural and economic exchanges, which have laid a solid foundation for closer future cross-Straits exchanges since the KMT's victory in the island's leadership election in January.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)