China's mainland invites trade groups from Taiwan Wednesday to talk with their mainland counterparts about boosting Taiwan's tourism and fruit sales.

Li Weiyi, the spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remark at a routine press conference when a reporter asked for his opinions on Taiwan's designation of a trade association to discuss fruit sales with the mainland.

Meanwhile, on the topics of the mainland residents' travel to Taiwan, He Zhijun, a senior official with the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said "the number of mainland visitors to Taiwan is smaller than Taiwan visitors to the mainland because Taiwan hasn't lifted control on mainland visitors."

Last month, the mainland announced it would designate Taiwan as a tourist destination for mainland residents and was ready to discuss the details. Allowing mainland tourists will likely result in a Taiwan tourism boom.

By the end of 2004, a total of 33.88 million Taiwan people had visited the mainland. More than 1 million mainland people had visited Taiwan.

On the issue of a Taiwan native demanding the return of memorial tablets of local natives in the Japanese Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese Class-A war criminals among others of the country's war dead, Li said such demand is reasonable and should be respected. Some Taiwan people were press-ganged by Japanese army to fight during the Second World War.

"Japanese leaders should honor their pledges and repent the untold suffering the Japanese militarists inflicted on Chinese people in that war," said Li.

According to the reporter's account, the Taiwan native was harassed or even intimidated by Japanese ultra-right wing extremists after she made the claim.

Speaking at the same press conference, Li said the Chinese mainland welcomes any trade groups from Taiwan to talk with the mainland's Association for Cross-Straits Economic and Trade Exchanges on the sale of Taiwan fruits on the mainland.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2005)