Relevant departments of the mainland will soon allow mainland residents to tour in Taiwan, according to an announcement made in Beijing Tuesday morning by Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Work Office of CPC Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Removal of the ban for mainland residents to travel to Taiwan is expected to expand people-to-people contacts between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits, help boost Taiwan's tourism, food and beverage and other related industries and will bring concrete benefits to the general public in Taiwan.

Concerted efforts from both sides of the Taiwan Straits have promoted exchanges of visits between residents on the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in recent years.

Statistics provided by the Chinese mainland side say that Taiwan compatriots made 3.686 million trips to the mainland in 2004, up 34.9 percent over the previous year. In the meantime, residents on the Chinese mainland made 145,000 trips to Taiwan, up 14.2 percent year-on-year.

Personnel exchanges between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan started with homecoming trips of Taiwan compatriots.

In 1979, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress issued a letter to Taiwan compatriots and formulated a range of policies towards Taiwan to boost cross-Straits relations,promote trade and economic cooperation, encourage visits and enhance mutual trust between the two sides under the basic

principle of peaceful reunification and "one country, two systems".

The call from the Chinese mainland for enhancing cross-Straits exchanges was acclaimed by the broad masses of Taiwan compatriots,some of whom managed to visit the mainland by way of a third city.

To date, Taiwan residents have made 33 million trips to the Chinese mainland since the Taiwan authorities gave them the green light in 1987.

The homecoming trips were followed by sightseeing tours, cultural exchanges and direct investment to the mainland. Year 1990 saw 947,600 visits exchanged between the mainland and Taiwan,and the figure topped 1 million in 1992.

It is in line with the common interests of Chinese compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits to promote cross-Straits economic, cultural and personnel exchanges, said Chinese President Hu Jintao in his four-point guideline on cross-Straits relations, proposed in early March.

Hu said continued efforts will be made to encourage and facilitate economic cooperation, the three "direct links", as well as exchanges in various fields including education, science and technology and culture.

The Chinese mainland has in recent years drafted policies and rules to protect the legitimate rights of the Taiwan compatriots, simplified procedures and is currently working to develop into a regular practice the direct cross-Straits charter flights which are now conducted on festivals and holidays.

Yet analysts say restrictions still exist in cross-Straits personnel exchanges, mainly because the Taiwan authorities have refused to open the island province to mainland tourists and the Taiwan leader's attempt to seek "Taiwan independence" has also seriously hindered exchanges between the two sides.