BEIJING -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson Thursday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority in Taiwan to repeal the discriminatory practices and measures against mainland students and cross-Straits marriages and families.

Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks while commenting on recent policies of Taiwan to keep mainland students and children who have a parent from the mainland from returning to the island to continue their studies or to join their families.

Zhu called on the DPP authority to address the reasonable needs of relevant groups and respect their rightful demands to return to school or reunite with their families.

The spokeswoman said that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the DPP authority's discriminatory practices against Taiwan people on the mainland as well as mainland students and children from cross-Straits families have seriously harmed the legitimate rights and interests of these groups and constitute inhumane political manipulation.