From Tuesday on, Taiwan residents have two more places to go to apply for re-issue of their five-year-term permits to enter and exit the Chinese mainland if the permits are lost or have expired.

The two places newly authorized by China's Ministry of Public Security to handle such affairs are Shanghai and Jiangsu in east China, where there are large numbers of Taiwan businessmen.

Earlier, such permits were issued only by agencies in four places, namely Hong Kong, Macao, Fuzhou and Xiamen.

If the permits are lost or have expired, the holders have to go to the first three cities to apply for re-issue.

The mainland has lately taken a series of measures to simplify the procedure and facilitate travel between the mainland and Taiwan, aiming to boost the affinity of the Chinese people across the Taiwan Straits.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2005)