Taiwan asks China to stop blocking its websites

Taiwan on Thursday urged its former rival China to stop blocking the websites of the island's government agencies, saying the practice was an obstacle to increased news and information exchange in future. "We've told them news exchange does not refer to the exchange of reporters only. What is really important is the free exchange of information," said Liu Te-shun, spokesman for the Mainland Affairs Council. Despite improved ties since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party became the island's president in 2008, Taiwan websites containing "gov.tw" are still not accessible to Internet users on the Chinese mainland. This has turned out to be a problem for China's own government, which increasingly needs official Taiwanese data as interaction multiplies, said Liu, whose council is Taiwan's main China policy-making body. "They must face up to this issue if they hope to see further news and information exchange," he said. Taiwan in 2009 eased restrictions on Chinese journalists stationed on the island, allowing each Chinese media outlet to deploy up to five reporters. Since then Chinese journalists stationed in Taiwan are also no longer required to notify Taiwanese authorities before travelling outside Taipei. Currently 10 Chinese news outlets station journalists in Taipei on a maximum six-month rotational basis. The same rules apply for Taiwanese reporters on the mainland. Taiwan lifted a ban on Chinese journalists in 2000, but the island's former pro-independence government denied the official Xinhua news agency and the People's Daily newspaper access in 2005, accusing them of contributing to worsening ties.