Taiwan's Kuomintang Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou has criticized the island's leader Chen Shui-bian for blocking a visit by Chen Yunlin, head of the Chinese mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office.

Ma said he was sorry to see Taiwan authorities' decline Chen's entry application.

To break cross-Straits deadlock, he added, one side must first show a sincere and friendly attitude.

Ma said Taiwan should keep cross-Straits relations moving forward, because the relationship between Beijing and Taipei is not the same as it was a decade ago.

"In the long run, I think the deadlocked relationship across the Straits is not doing Taiwan any good," Ma was quoted as saying by Taiwan media.

Chen Yunlin was invited by the KMT to attend a "party-to-party" forum next month.

Chen Shui-bian said at a campaign rally in Hsinchuang city on Friday night that he would not allow Chen Yunlin to visit Taiwan.

He said that as Beijing did not allow the island's envoy, "Legislative Yuan Speaker" Wang Jin-pyng, to attend the APEC meeting, Chen Yunlin should not even think about setting foot on Taiwan.

Lien Chan, the retired KMT chairman, told Singapore newspaper Lianhe Zaobao that Chen Shui-bian is an "irresponsible person."

Lien said the "party-to-party" forum is an unofficial meeting and the refusal to allow Chen's visit shows that the Taiwan authorities want to "create difficulties" for cross-Straits unofficial exchanges.

Spokesman for the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Li Weiyi, said last week that the Taiwan authorities should allow the visit to go ahead.

The "party-to-party" forum will discuss agricultural and financial co-operation and the establishment of three direct links in business, transport and postal services, said Li.

The event, which follows a trip to the mainland by then KMT Chairman Lien Chan in April, aims to push for peace and stability in bilateral relations, Li said.

He accused Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party administration of "politicizing the issue."

(China Daily November 21, 2005)