A Chinese mainland spokesman on Friday urged Taiwan authorities to accept the 1992 Consensus, which acknowledges that both sides across the Taiwan Strait belong to one China, saying it is the only way to break the current deadlock in cross-strait ties.

The undermining of the 1992 Consensus — the common political foundation for cross-Strait exchanges — since May last year has been the most fundamental change in cross-strait ties, said Ma Xiaoguang, a mainland spokesperson with the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen took office in May 2016. Her administration has not recognized the 1992 Consensus, which has led to suspension of cross-strait communication mechanisms.

“Whoever undermined that (common political) foundation should be held accountable for the current deadlock across the Taiwan Strait,” Ma said.

He went on to say that the administration of Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has not only failed to accept the 1992 Consensus and that both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, but has also indulged and supported a series of activities aimed at “de-sinicization” and “Taiwan independence.” It has also obstructed cross-strait exchanges and sought to turn people from both sides against each other.

“These are the biggest obstacle for cross-strait ties at the moment,” Ma said.

He said the Chinese mainland’s Taiwan policy has been consistent and clear.

“We stick to the 1992 Consensus, which sets out the one-China principle, and work to protect and promote peaceful development of cross-strait ties. But we will never allow our country to split,” Ma said.

China’s centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have a promising future in boosting mass entrepreneurship and innovation, Premier Li Keqiang has said.

Premier Li said he believes centrally-administered SOEs have more potential and opportunity in implementing mass entrepreneurship and innovation as they are rich in technology, talent, capital and resources.

China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp. is among the leading SOEs in the area. Its web-based innovation platform has attracted more than 2,000 teams of makers, which generates ideas and products and sets an example for innovators across the country.

During an inspection at the company’s science park on Thursday, Li applauded the efforts, saying mass entrepreneurship and innovation will be a way to success for both small firms and industry giants.

“The mass entrepreneurship and innovation initiative is a reform in essence,” said Li, explaining that it taps human potential in improving productivity and uses Internet technology to match businesses with makers.

It will substantially stimulate economic and social development, Li said.

He encouraged other SOEs to build platforms to invite small firms to entrepreneurship and innovation as a new means of integrated development among large, medium and small companies.

The premier also listened to reports from other SOEs, including Aviation Industry Corporation of China and China Mobile.

In a meeting held following the tour, Li called on SOEs to strengthen efforts to reform and restructure.

SOEs, especially centrally-administered SOEs, should continue to focus on improving growth quality and efficiency by advancing reforms, carrying out the innovation-driven development strategy, and building a modern corporate system, Li said, urging them to maintain profit increases and help the economic recovery.

SOEs’ profit growth accelerated to 37.3 percent from a year ago in the first quarter, compared with the 13.8-percent decline registered in Q1 of 2016 and the increase of 1.7 percent over the whole year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

Li said centrally-administered SOEs should serve as vanguards in revitalizing the real economy by developing new growth engines and advancing industrial upgrades.

To meet the nation’s strategic needs and implement the “Made in China 2025” strategy, centrally-administered SOEs should move up the industrial and value chains and increase their presence in emerging sectors, through developing revolutionary new technologies and new business models that bring into full play China’s unique advantage of having a vast market, according to Li.

They should also use Internet and other new technologies to upgrade their production, management and marketing models so as to revive traditional sectors, Li said.

To facilitate overhauls of SOEs, governments should implement favorable measures to create a sound business environment, by reducing red tape, increasing fiscal and financial support, and improving supervision, Li added.

China on Friday criticized a U.S. organization’s report on religious freedom in the country and asked the organization to discard prejudice.

The recent United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) annual report recommended the U.S. government keep China on the list of “countries of particular concern”.

The Chinese government protects the religious freedom of its citizens in line with laws, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily press briefing.

“It is obvious and indisputable that the Chinese people of all ethnic groups have fully enjoyed freedom in terms of religious belief,” Geng said.

USCIRF is politically prejudiced against China, ignores its progress in the area of religion and issues inaccurate reports on its religious policies year after year, Geng said.

“The commission should respect the facts, discard its bias and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs,” he added.

New rules by Chinese authorities requiring online game players to conduct real-name registrations with their valid identity documents will take effect in May.

According to a circular issued by the Ministry of Culture, online game operators are obliged to keep their users’ registration information for supervision.

The circular also suggested the operators limit the time and maximum spending in online games for minor users.

Also from May, the information on people who have defaulted on court orders will be kept on a blacklist for up to five years, according to a judicial document issued by the Supreme People’s Court.

A new regulation on proper urban management enforcement and another on supervision of the country’s Red Cross societies will also take effect next month.

China’s Ministry of National Defense (MOD) made a formal apology on April 27 for using an illustration in a recent post of its official Weibo account that contained major errors.

The MOD spokesperson, Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, during a regular press briefing on April 27, said the error was a result of negligence by the editors.

“We have noticed too that the picture wasn’t correct and that caused netizen criticism. Our editors made the error but their superiors also share the responsibility,” he said.

In the post dated April 23, the 68th anniversary of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy, which is also known as PLA Navy Day, the country’s first-ever aircraft carrier CNS Liaoning was shown cruising accompanied by two warships. Also in the picture were three jet fighters flying in the sky and another one taking off from the carrier’s flight deck.

Keen military fans among Weibo users spotted almost instantly that the two warships were USS San Antonio amphibious transport docks (also known as landing platform docks), the three jet fighters were J-10 of the PLA Air Force and the one taking off was a Russian MiG-29 (some said it was a Su-35), casting a shadow of a passenger jet on the carrier’s flight deck.

In other words, the poster apparently having been edited using Photoshop software, contained two U.S. Navy vessels, one Russian military aircraft and three Chinese air force aircraft – the CNS Liaoning being the only correct element in the picture.

Most comments questioned the editors’ professional aptitude and some joked that the poster’s quality was “at most that from a roadside print shop.”

The spokesperson said many friends had suggested immediately delete the poster, or at least turning off the comment function on the page; however, the MOD purposely decided to keep the erroneous picture on the Internet as “a gesture to show sincerity in the face of good-willed criticism.”

“We believe that the harsh criticisms from [netizens] reflected their deep love and heartfelt support to us,” said Yang. “Leaving the picture along with the appended comments was an alert for us. It serves as a constant reminder to us about working hard and to keep progressing.

“On behalf of our editing team, we offer our sincere apology as well as gratitude to people who pay attention to us, care about us and support us”.

As of 11:00 PM on April 27, the Weibo post has received 3,477 likes, 2,460 comments, and has been retweeted 2,945 times.