The Labor Party, an opposition party on the Taiwan island, on Friday condemned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority for preventing cross-Straits exchanges among the youth after media reported that related departments implied it will turn down an application from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation on inviting 50 college students from the mainland to visit the island. 

The plan was announced on Thursday and the mainland students from five universities, including Hunan University which Ma Ying-jeou visited in April, would be led to several Taiwan universities and engage in dialogue with their peers. The trip would last for nine days and include stops at some well-known scenic spots and relic sites on the island, said the foundation.

From late March to early April, former Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou led a group of Taiwan students to visit several cities on the mainland, including Shanghai, Wuhan and Changsha, during which the delegation had exchanges with mainland college students.

However, media from the Taiwan island reported on Friday that the "mainland affairs council" in the island told the foundation via an intermediary not to submit the proposal as it will not OK it. The reason the council noted was such event is not important, not urgent and not irreplaceable. 

The DPP authority's creating obstacles to prevent cross-Straits communication have been under criticism. The Labor Party released a statement on Friday strongly condemning the DPP.

The plan to invite college students from the mainland to visit the island, if implemented, will undoubtedly help cool down the current tense cross-Straits situation, but the DPP authority may intentionally turn it down, read the statement of the Labor Party sent to the Global Times. 

Moreover, the DPP authority has also prevented mainland visitors from going to the island for people-to-people exchanges, trying to build an anti-mainland "iron curtain" to manipulate the public opinion, said the Labor Party statement. 
Sticking in path of relying on the US to seek independence, the DPP does not want to see any easing of the tense cross-Straits situation. The crisis of war is imminent and we must face up to the choice between war and peace, and face up to the impact of historical changes, said the Labor Party, calling on young people to take actions to promote cross-Straits peace. 

The executive director of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, Hsiao Hsu-tsen, said he had called on the island's mainland-affairs authority to consider the plan and resume normal exchanges across the Taiwan Straits as soon as possible, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Hsiao also noted that the invitation is conducive to conveying more kindness and message of peace and promoting the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations.