The Taiwan authorities are to blame for the failure to establish direct travel links across the Taiwan Strait, a Chinese mainland official said on Wednesday.

Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said that Chen Shui-bian and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were clinging obstinately to their stance of separating Taiwan from China and intentionally delaying negotiations on cross-Strait travel.

The claim by the Taiwan authorities that the mainland hoped to influence the election in Taiwan by setting up barriers on cross-Strait travel was groundless and was intended to mislead the island's public, said Fan.

The mainland had been making practical endeavors to realize cross-Strait travel as early as May 2005, but the Taiwan authorities only expressed a willingness to talk in October 2006 through a non-governmental negotiation organization, she said.

The two sides had conducted six rounds of negotiations in Macao between October 2006 and August 2007, but the talks hit constant obstructions from the Taiwan authorities, Fan said.

The Taiwan authorities were twisting cross-Strait travel by wanting to define it as "international travel", said Fan.

Negotiations would be difficult so long as the Taiwan authorities maintained their stance on separating Taiwan from China and setting up political barriers, Fan said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2008)