Global Pulse

作者： admin

  • DPP’s servility will not get Taiwan any mercy: mainland spokeswoman

    DPP’s servility will not get Taiwan any mercy: mainland spokeswoman

    BEIJING – Amid unfolding trade developments that expose the emptiness of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities’ claims of diplomatic gains, a senior spokeswoman for China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office issued a blunt rebuke on Wednesday, warning that the DPP’s groveling pursuit of United States favor will never deliver tangible benefits for the people of Taiwan.

    Zhu Fenglian made the remarks in response to press inquiries surrounding a new U.S. trade policy that imposes a 100% tariff on imported pharmaceutical products. Contrary to repeated public claims from DPP leaders that Taiwan had secured exclusive preferential treatment under the new scheme, the island was ultimately left off the list of approved exporters eligible for tariff exemptions.

    The spokeswoman stressed that what the DPP has misleadingly framed as “preferential treatment” from Washington is in reality little more than one-sided coercion and economic exploitation of Taiwan by the United States. For decades, the U.S. has operated under an explicit “America First” doctrine that prioritizes its own domestic and geopolitical interests exclusively, with no regard for the well-being of its self-proclaimed partners, Zhu explained.

    Beyond economic harm, Zhu pointed out that the DPP’s deliberate choice to curry favor with Washington by sacrificing the livelihoods and economic interests of Taiwan’s people is rooted in a cynical, malicious political calculation. The ruling separatist party seeks to trade Taiwan’s resources and future for U.S. backing of its campaign to split Taiwan from China, a goal that runs directly counter to the shared interests of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

    The spokeswoman added that growing numbers of Taiwan compatriots have already come to recognize this pattern. More and more residents of the island now understand that the U.S. advances its own goals through pressure tactics and unilateral power politics, with no commitment to fairness or mutual benefit, regardless of promises made to regional partners.

  • Experts stress collaboration in global wheat research

    Experts stress collaboration in global wheat research

    Against a backdrop of growing global pressure on food systems driven by climate change and shifting ecological conditions, agricultural scientists from China and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) gathered in late March 2026 to reaffirm the critical role of international collaboration in advancing wheat innovation and sustainable farming. The high-level China-CIMMYT wheat symposium took place as a flagship event during CIMMYT’s annual Visitors’ Week at the Norman E. Borlaug Experimental Station in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, drawing dozens of leading researchers to map the future of global wheat breeding.

  • Watch: Fire damages roof of Rio’s Olympic velodrome

    Watch: Fire damages roof of Rio’s Olympic velodrome

    A significant fire has caused structural damage to the roof of Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Olympic velodrome, prompting a large-scale emergency response from local fire authorities in the early hours of the incident. The state military fire department confirmed that roughly 80 frontline firefighters and 20 specialized fire trucks were deployed to bring the blaze under control, working for several hours to fully extinguish the flames and prevent the fire from spreading to other sections of the venue. Fortunately, there have been no reports of injuries or casualties resulting from the incident, according to official updates from the department. Built for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the velodrome remains a key cycling and sports facility in the region, and local authorities have launched an initial investigation to determine the root cause of the fire. Emergency crews have cordoned off the damaged area to conduct safety inspections before any plans for repairs are finalized.

  • Former attorney general Pam Bondi will not testify on Epstein files next week, justice department says

    Former attorney general Pam Bondi will not testify on Epstein files next week, justice department says

    A sudden development in the congressional probe into the Jeffrey Epstein investigation has thrown Capitol Hill into partisan friction, after the U.S. Department of Justice announced former Attorney General Pam Bondi would not honor a scheduled deposition next week. Citing Bondi’s recent removal from the top law enforcement post by former President Donald Trump just one week prior, DOJ officials argued that the original subpoena was issued to Bondi exclusively in her official capacity as sitting attorney general, eliminating her requirement to appear before the House Oversight Committee on April 14. A committee spokesperson later confirmed this notification to the BBC.

    The announcement has immediately drawn pushback from lawmakers across both major parties, who argue that a change in position does not erase Bondi’s legal and ethical obligation to answer questions about the handling of the Epstein investigation. House Oversight Committee Republican member Nancy Mace was among the first to speak out, emphasizing that the subpoena remains legally binding regardless of Bondi’s current employment status. Mace called on committee chairman James Comer to publicly reaffirm that Bondi still must comply with the deposition order. “The American people deserve to know whether Congress was misled and whether information about Jeffrey Epstein and his associates is being withheld,” Mace wrote in her public statement.

    Ranking Democratic member Robert Garcia echoed Mace’s demands, going a step further to threaten consequences for noncompliance. “She must come in to testify immediately, and if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges,” Garcia said in an official release. As of press time, Bondi has not issued any public comment on the dispute.

    The subpoena for Bondi was first issued earlier this year, when Comer formally requested her testimony to address allegations of potential mismanagement of the Department of Justice’s Epstein investigation. Epstein, a deceased convicted sex offender, has long been the center of conspiracy and scrutiny due to his extensive connections to high-profile global political and business figures. Both Bondi and the Trump administration have faced sustained bipartisan pressure to declassify and release all documents tied to the case, a push that resulted in congressional legislation forcing disclosure that Trump signed into law in November 2024.

    After the release of millions of documents earlier this year, the DOJ faced widespread bipartisan criticism from lawmakers. Some legislators accused the department of two key failures: first, it improperly failed to redact identifying information for Epstein’s survivors, putting vulnerable victims at risk; second, it allegedly intentionally protected the identities of well-connected associates of Epstein who were not classified as victims.

    Last month, Comer justified the request for Bondi’s testimony by noting her direct oversight of the document release process mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. “As Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the Department’s collection, review, and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,” Comer said at the time.

    The House Oversight Committee’s Epstein probe has already pulled in a string of high-profile witnesses, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The committee recently announced that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is scheduled to provide testimony in June, while U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is expected to appear in the coming weeks.

  • Guizhou’s ancient glacial kamenitzas offer otherworldly views

    Guizhou’s ancient glacial kamenitzas offer otherworldly views

    Tucked away in the karst landscapes of Anlong county, in China’s mountainous Guizhou province, a rare geological formation shaped by prehistoric ice offers visitors a view that feels straight out of another world. Aerial imagery captured on April 1 reveals the sprawling field of kamenitzas — more commonly called giant’s kettles — that dot the terrain, their unusual shapes drawing the eye of both casual travelers and earth science experts alike.

    These unique hollow rock formations are not the product of ordinary erosion. Geologists confirm they were carved over thousands of years by the powerful swirling action of glacial meltwater at the end of the last ice age. Most giant’s kettles follow a consistent, distinctive shape: narrow and tapered at the opening, they widen into rounded, bowl-like cavities deeper down, a structural signature that serves as tangible, on-the-ground evidence of large-scale ancient glacial activity across the Guizhou region.

    Unlike many other prehistoric geological sites that have been damaged by human development or climate shifts, this Anlong county giant’s kettle field remains almost entirely undisturbed. It retains its original natural state, with clear deep blue water pooling in the cavities of the formations to create a striking visual contrast against the surrounding rock. In recent years, the site has grown in popularity among outdoor recreation communities, emerging as a top destination for cross-country hikers, landscape photographers, and geology enthusiasts eager to explore a well-preserved piece of Earth’s glacial history up close.

  • Is Lebanon part of the Iran war ceasefire?

    Is Lebanon part of the Iran war ceasefire?

    In the days following the announcement of a landmark two-week temporary ceasefire between the United States and Iran, deep uncertainty and contradiction have clouded whether the de-escalation agreement extends to neighboring Lebanon, where Israeli forces have continued offensive operations for more than a month. Pakistan, which served as the primary mediator for the bilateral truce, confirmed early on that the pause in hostilities would cover all fronts, including Lebanon. But Israel — which has been carrying out air bombardments and a ground invasion of Lebanon since early March — has flatly rejected this claim, maintaining its military campaign against Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah unabated. As of press time, Hezbollah itself has not released an official formal position on the ceasefire, though anonymous Lebanese sources close to the group told Reuters the movement had halted its own cross-border fire following the truce announcement, with a formal statement expected imminently.

    The expansion of conflict into Lebanon followed the outbreak of US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February. Hezbollah launched a large-scale rocket barrage into northern Israel in direct response to the killing of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a key spiritual leader for the Lebanese resistance movement. The group has also maintained its actions were a preemption of a planned Israeli invasion of Lebanese territory, a assessment that has been corroborated by independent reporting in Israeli media outlets.

    Long before the ceasefire was reached, Iran had made any cessation of hostilities with the US conditional on an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and Iranian officials have repeatedly stated the new agreement explicitly includes a halt to fighting on Lebanese soil. In an official statement, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the US had made a “fundamental commitment” to the “cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic Resistance of Lebanon” as a core term of the truce.

    US President Donald Trump, who negotiated the deal with Tehran, made no mention of Lebanon in his public announcement of the ceasefire, only noting that Washington considered Iran’s 10-point negotiation framework “workable”. Iranian state media has since confirmed the framework includes provisions to end active conflict across four zones: Iran itself, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. Nearly four hours after the truce was made public, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement confirming Israel supported Trump’s decision to suspend strikes on Iran for the 14-day period — but added a critical caveat that “the two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon.”

    On the ground, the discrepancy in terms has translated to continued bloodshed. The Israeli military announced it had halted offensive operations inside Iran starting at 3 a.m. local time in line with the truce, but explicitly stated it would “continues fighting against Hezbollah.” In the early hours of Wednesday, Lebanese health ministry officials confirmed Israeli fighter jets carried out an air strike on the coastal Lebanese city of Sidon that killed eight people and wounded 44 more. The attack damaged a seaside cafe in the city, with photos of the destruction circulating widely across regional media. Additional heavy strikes were reported across multiple villages in southern Lebanon and in the eastern Beqaa Governorate.

    Amid the ongoing violence, the Lebanese army has issued an urgent advisory calling on thousands of displaced residents to avoid returning to their homes in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has also ordered all residents in the coastal city of Tyre to evacuate the area ahead of planned planned strikes. International leaders have pushed back against Israel’s continued offensive. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called the continuation of attacks after the ceasefire announcement “unacceptable,” telling public radio RNE that “All fronts must cease, and all fronts also means Lebanon.” Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the US-Iran truce and publicly expressed hope that the agreement would be “fully extended to include Lebanon.”

    The current full-scale Israeli military campaign in Lebanon launched on March 2, breaking a previous ceasefire agreement signed between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024 that had held for more than a year amid repeated violations. Since resuming offensive operations, Israeli ground forces have advanced up to five kilometers into southern Lebanese territory, expanding their incursion beyond the UN-monitored border. Lebanese authorities report that more than 1,500 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes and ground operations, and more than one million Lebanese residents have been displaced from their homes since fighting resumed.

  • What the US-Iran ceasefire does and doesn’t mean

    What the US-Iran ceasefire does and doesn’t mean

    Tensions between the United States and Iran appear to have eased temporarily following widespread reports of a two-week ceasefire agreement, a deal that has yet to be officially confirmed by either government and that averted an open military confrontation after former U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran if hostilities escalated.

    Contradiction and confusion have marked public messaging around the reported deal: CNN and other major international outlets cited a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirming the truce, but Trump quickly dismissed that account as fabricated. Instead, the former president shared a cryptic post from Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on X to his Truth Social platform, leaving the full terms of any potential agreement unconfirmed and open to interpretation.

    Regardless of the ambiguity surrounding the ceasefire’s details, direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran are scheduled to resume this Friday, April 10, in Islamabad. This moment of temporary de-escalation offers an opportunity to break down five critical preliminary observations about the strategic landscape shaping the talks:

    1. Israel will align its actions with U.S. leadership
    While Israeli leaders have long pushed for the U.S. to pursue shared strategic goals against Iran through military action, analysts agree the country will not openly obstruct the ceasefire process. Israel risks alienating its closest ally and being left to face Iran alone if it derails the truce, leading it to formally accept the current agreement. This cooperation in turn clears the way for Friday’s planned negotiations to move forward as scheduled.
    If talks do stall, however, Israel may choose to provoke Iran into resuming full-scale hostilities if it assesses that the U.S. will join the conflict on its side. No such provocation is likely as long as negotiations show signs of progress.

    2. Multiple competing demands will shape security negotiations
    Iran’s core non-negotiable demand centers on a U.S. military drawdown in the Persian Gulf, ranging from a return to pre-conflict force positions to a full withdrawal from the region. On the opposing side, the U.S. and Israel are pushing for two key concessions: the elimination of Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium, and at minimum the implementation of strict international monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program alongside binding limits on its ballistic missile development.
    The U.S. has also retained the leverage of reimposing sweeping sanctions, including harsh secondary restrictions, if hostilities resume. Beyond the U.S.-Iran dynamic, broader regional military shifts are already underway: the United Arab Emirates is moving toward a formal military alliance with Israel, while other Gulf states are consolidating their military coordination under the leadership of Saudi Arabia.

    3. The petroyuan is unlikely to be accepted in any final deal
    One widely reported Iranian demand that is expected to be dropped from any final peace agreement is the requirement that all payments for safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz be made in Chinese yuan, a system referred to as the petroyuan. U.S. negotiators are strongly opposed to any arrangement that would elevate the yuan as a competitor to the petrodollar system that underpins the global oil market.
    Instead, the U.S. is pushing for a framework where Iran splits transit payments with Oman in U.S. dollars as a form of reparation, a structure that would further strengthen the petrodollar’s dominant position. Washington is also expected to demand that Iran gradually reduce its oil sales to China to zero as a core condition for permanent sanctions relief, even if that commitment is only agreed to informally.

    4. A history of broken negotiations raises fears of another trap
    Iran has repeatedly warned the international community that the U.S. launched two separate military attacks against Iranian targets while negotiations were ongoing in past conflicts, leaving Tehran deeply skeptical of American commitments. This history leaves open the possibility that a third attack could come during the current ceasefire period.
    In this scenario, Trump’s earlier threat to destroy Iran may have been issued without prior coordination with Israel and Gulf Arab monarchies, leaving those allies more vulnerable to immediate Iranian retaliation than they would have been with advance preparation time. Even if regional leaders would prefer to avoid this sequence of escalation, the two-week ceasefire window gives them critical time to shore up their defenses against any potential sudden shift.

    5. The permanent threat of catastrophic global change remains
    If the U.S. follows through on its threat to completely destroy Iran as a functional state, Iranian leaders have made clear they will use all military capabilities at their disposal to bring down Gulf Arab monarchies alongside them. A full-scale regional war would halt energy exports from the Persian Gulf indefinitely, throwing the entire Afro-Eurasian landmass into widespread economic and political chaos. This scenario would play out as the U.S. withdraws its formal military presence to a “Fortress America” strategy focused on the Western Hemisphere, from which it would pursue a divide-and-rule strategy for competing powers in the Eastern Hemisphere.
    This “Sword of Damocles” hanging over the global order — the constant risk of radical, catastrophic change — remains in place and cannot be ignored amid temporary de-escalation.

    Both Washington and Tehran have publicly declared victory in the recent conflict, but the war cannot be considered fully over until a permanent bilateral agreement is reached. Analysts note that any final deal may incorporate key elements from a proposal put forward by former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, published in *Foreign Affairs* just last week. Until that deal is finalized, it remains far too early to name a definitive winner. The true outcome of the conflict will only be clear once the fates of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, its nuclear and missile programs, its oil exports to China, and the proposed petroyuan system are resolved. This article was originally published on Andrew Korybko’s Substack and republished with edits for clarity here.

  • Dilemma over crossings as fate of Hormuz ships remains uncertain

    Dilemma over crossings as fate of Hormuz ships remains uncertain

    In the wake of a last-minute bilateral ceasefire announcement between the United States and Iran that was meant to reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, global shipping operators are still holding back, with barely a handful of vessels daring to transit the waterway just one day after the agreement. As of Wednesday, only three commercial ships had completed passage through the chokepoint, a stark contrast to pre-crisis traffic levels and a clear indicator of the deep uncertainty still hanging over one of the world’s most vital maritime trade routes.

    Data from multiple maritime industry analysts underscores the scope of the ongoing logjam. Ship tracking service MarineTraffic confirmed that beyond the three transits Wednesday, only a small number of additional vessels are currently scheduled to make the crossing, a number that amounts to no meaningful recovery of trade flow. Since March 1, maritime data provider Kpler records an average of just eight commodity-carrying ships transiting the strait per day, far below the usual 20-plus vessels that pass through daily during normal conditions. Maritime intelligence firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence estimates that more than 800 commercial vessels remain stranded across Gulf waters, with overall traffic through the strait plummeting by roughly 95% from pre-crisis levels.

    “Everybody across the global shipping sector is obviously on edge right now,” Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List, told Agence France-Presse. For the thousands of crew members who have remained confined to their stuck vessels for weeks, the ceasefire announcement does offer the first glimmer of hope after weeks of uncertainty. “The ceasefire has definitely calmed our nerves, and we’re holding out hope that the calm holds. The crew can finally take a breath after all this time,” an off-duty captain, whose vessel and crew remain stranded off the coast of Qatar, told AFP.

    Despite the tentative diplomatic breakthrough, major shipping industry bodies are still warning carriers against rushing to resume full transit through the strait, saying conditions remain too volatile for large-scale movement. “Heading out through the Gulf right now would not be advisable without explicit, verified coordination with both US and Iranian authorities,” Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at the international shipping association Bimco, told AFP. His warning aligns with guidance from other leading industry groups, which all emphasize that the long-term stability of the waterway remains far from guaranteed. “We still have no clear confirmation that the area has truly become safe for regular transit,” the Japanese Shipowners’ Association told AFP Wednesday.

    Industry leaders add that core details of the agreement have yet to be clarified enough to restore shipping confidence. John Stawpert, principal director of marine affairs at the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), noted that much of the public discussion has centered on Iran’s 10-point framework for the deal, but key elements of that proposal remain undefined. That framework, presented by Iran as the basis for talks with the United States, does not align with the terms the White House has agreed to, a senior US official has confirmed.

    The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ maritime regulatory body, announced Wednesday that it is currently developing a formal mechanism to guarantee permanent safe transit through the strait for all commercial vessels. Beyond the ongoing geopolitical risk, a rushed, uncoordinated mass departure of hundreds of stranded vessels from the Gulf also raises major safety risks of collisions and groundings in already congested waters, Meade added.

    One of the biggest outstanding unresolved questions is the future of the limited transit system Iran implemented during the closure of the strait, which Lloyd’s List has dubbed the “Tehran Toll Booth” amid widespread reports that vessels were required to pay fees to secure passage permission. The Iranian 10-point plan explicitly includes language calling for “maintaining Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz”, a condition that conflicts with US demands for fully unrestricted, free passage.

    US President Donald Trump previously stated in a social media post that Iran had agreed to the “COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz”. But an Iranian diplomatic source told reporters Wednesday that a new transit mechanism has been organized in partnership with Oman, “under which there has been and will be a right of passage” for all vessels. Oman’s government issued a statement Wednesday welcoming the ceasefire but declined to comment on the details of the proposed transit mechanism or any potential toll system.

    According to reporting from the Financial Times, Tehran is expected to demand a fee of one US dollar per barrel of oil passing through the strait, with payment required to be made in cryptocurrency to avoid US-led financial sanctions. Writing in an op-ed published Tuesday, Amir Handjari, a senior fellow at the US-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, argued that a joint Omani-Iranian arrangement to manage the strait is far from unrealistic. “Oman would gain a consistent new revenue stream and increased strategic relevance in the region. Iran would gain international legitimacy, much-needed hard currency, and a tangible diplomatic win to show its domestic population after the conflict,” Handjari wrote.

    The current effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has no modern precedent. Even during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War between 1980 and 1988, the strait remained open to commercial traffic, despite a series of deadly tanker attacks that significantly slowed trade flows. More recently, in 2024, repeated attacks by pro-Iranian Houthi militias in the Red Sea cut traffic through the Suez Canal and Bab al-Mandeb Strait by half, France’s economy ministry confirmed.

  • Courts to impose severe penalties for spreading fake terrorist news related to civil aviation

    Courts to impose severe penalties for spreading fake terrorist news related to civil aviation

    China’s top judicial bodies have introduced a landmark set of rules to crack down on dangerous misinformation targeting civil aviation, imposing heavy criminal penalties on anyone who fabricates or intentionally spreads false terrorist threats that endanger flight safety.

    The new judicial interpretation, released jointly by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, will go into effect on Thursday, April 9, 2026. The guideline is designed to standardize legal processes and help judges and prosecutors handle criminal cases related to civil aviation flight safety more consistently and effectively.

    Luo Guoliang, chief judge of the SPC’s Fourth Criminal Division, emphasized that aviation safety is a non-negotiable foundation for public well-being and social order. “Ensuring the safety of civil aviation flights is crucial for protecting the lives and property of ordinary people, as well as for maintaining long-term social harmony and stability,” Luo said. He added that in recent years, sporadic cases of fabricated terrorist threats and unruly disruptive behaviors on board aircraft have drawn widespread public concern over aviation security.

    To illustrate the real-world impact of these violations, Luo cited a 2024 incident: a passenger who missed his flight deliberately told airline staff at an information desk that his aircraft carried a bomb. The false claim forced the evacuation of all passengers for a full secondary security sweep, delaying the flight by roughly two hours and disrupting the entire airport’s operating schedule.

    The seven-article judicial interpretation clearly outlines criminal penalties for various violations that threaten civil aviation, with particularly harsh sanctions reserved for creators and spreaders of fake terrorist information. The guideline formally classifies any behavior that disrupts the normal operations of flights or airports, or requires emergency intervention from public security, armed police, fire, health quarantine and other professional response agencies, as a criminal offense. Perpetrators whose actions cause major social disorder or substantial economic losses will face a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

    Beyond defining penalties, the interpretation also clarifies court jurisdiction rules for criminal cases that threaten flight safety, closing legal loopholes that previously complicated prosecutions of these offenses.

    Recent industry data shows that ongoing security crackdowns have already started to reduce in-flight violations. The Civil Aviation Administration of China reported that in 2025, China’s civil aviation sector handled 770 million passenger trips, and law enforcement teams responded to 1,081 in-flight safety incidents — a 6.5% decrease from 2024. The incident rate per 10,000 flights dropped even more sharply, falling 17% year-on-year. Judicial officials expect the new, clearer penalties will act as a stronger deterrent, further reducing these dangerous disruptions and protecting the traveling public.

  • Cross-Strait passenger routes under ‘Mini Three Links’ see peak travel during the holiday

    Cross-Strait passenger routes under ‘Mini Three Links’ see peak travel during the holiday

    The 2026 Qingming Festival holiday brought a notable surge in cross-Strait travel along the ‘Mini Three Links’ ferry routes, with official data recording a year-on-year rise in passenger volumes that underscores growing people-to-people exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

    Between April 1 and 6, the ferry routes connecting mainland China’s Fujian province to the Taiwan-administered islands of Jinmen and Matsu handled 34,100 passenger trips, marking a 9.49 percent increase compared to the same period last year. This data was shared by Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, during a press briefing on April 8.

    First established to facilitate direct small-scale travel, trade and postal services between Fujian and the outlying Taiwan-controlled islands, the ‘Mini Three Links’ has long emerged as one of the most critical and accessible transportation arteries for cross-Strait interactions. It is particularly relied on by residents of Fujian and Taiwan for routine visits, family reunions, and cultural exchanges, Zhu noted.

    To accommodate the holiday travel rush, port management authorities across Fujian rolled out targeted service upgrades and enhanced cross-agency coordination. Special green channels were activated to guarantee priority passage for cross-Strait ferries, reducing wait times for travelers. On the busy Xiamen-Jinmen route, dedicated family lanes and oversized baggage processing channels remained operational around the clock throughout the holiday to serve groups traveling with children or carrying large personal items. The Fuzhou-Matsu route added six extra round-trip sailings to meet unmet demand from passengers looking to travel during the tomb-sweeping holiday.

    Beyond transportation upgrades, local authorities at the Quanzhou-Jinmen terminal partnered with a regional museum to host a special Qingming Festival-themed cultural event and exhibition. The exhibition centered on highlighting the shared ancestral and cultural roots that bind communities on both sides of the Strait.

    Zhu added that the Qingming holiday, a traditional time for ancestral remembrance in Chinese culture, saw large numbers of Taiwan compatriots travel across the Strait to participate in worship and memorial activities. Many traveled from Taiwan to ancestral hometowns across the mainland to hold family worship ceremonies and clan gatherings, while a group of Taiwan representatives attended the annual public memorial ceremony for the Yellow Emperor — the legendary common ancestor of the Chinese nation — held in Shaanxi province.

    These annual activities serve as a powerful reminder of the deep, unbroken sense of kinship that connects people across the Taiwan Strait, Zhu emphasized.