The Chinese mainland has condemned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authorities for barring people on the island from attending an event scheduled on the mainland in November to mark the 160th birth anniversary of Sun Yat-sen, saying the move betrays the nation and its history.

　　Sun, a founding figure of the Chinese Kuomintang party and a revered revolutionary leader, died in 1925 in Beijing. His remains rest at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province.

　　The commemorative event aims to carry forward Sun's noble spirit of upholding national unity and striving for national rejuvenation, Zhang Han, a spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday.

　　The event aims to unite all Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, in opposing "Taiwan independence" separatism and external interference and in promoting cross-Strait exchanges and integration, she added.

　　Recently, Taiwan's "mainland affairs council" claimed that the commemoration would promote the idea of "anti-'independence' and pro-reunification". For the first time, it issued an explicit ban on participation in the event, saying that it would deny permission to anyone wanting to travel to the mainland to attend the commemoration, including county and city heads.

　　Zhang, the mainland spokeswoman, accused the DPP authorities of resorting to every possible means to obstruct and restrict cross-Strait exchanges while intimidating and suppressing people in Taiwan.

　　The decision "exposes the vicious intentions" of the DPP authorities "to obstruct cross-Strait exchanges and suppress Taiwan compatriots, betray the nation and history, split the country and stoke confrontation across the Taiwan Strait", Zhang said.

　　"Their actions will inevitably meet with opposition and condemnation from all Chinese people," she added.