Passengers prepare to leave the city of Quanzhou, Fujian province, to the island of Kinmen, which is administered by Taiwan, on Friday. Ferry services between Quanzhou and the island resumed on Friday after being suspended for nearly three years due to COVID-19. [Photo by Li Xiang/For China Daily]

Ferry services between Quanzhou, Fujian province, and the island of Kinmen — which is administered by Taiwan — resumed on Friday after being suspended for nearly three years due to COVID-19.

A ferry departed Quanzhou for Kinmen on Friday morning, and a ferry from Kinmen arrived in Quanzhou at noon, with about 50 passengers. There will be two round-trip sailings per week between the city and the island.

Lee Pei-jing, from Kinmen who was aboard the ferry to Quanzhou on Friday, said: "I felt excited today as the ferry restored service after three years. It's about five kilometers between the two places, but it took more than 10 hours to travel from Kinmen to the island of Taiwan and then fly to Quanzhou over the past three years. It was a waste of time and money."

The ferry service is an important means for people to travel between the coastal areas of Fujian and Kinmen. Since its opening in 2006, more than 29,000 trips had been tallied as of February 2020, with 1.39 million passengers, 50 percent of whom were from Taiwan.

In January, ferry service between Xiamen and Fuzhou in Fujian and the islands of Kinmen and Matsu also resumed operations after a three-year suspension.

The routes were partially resumed to facilitate people's travel and need for family reunions. However, the newly restored services were limited to Kinmen and Matsu residents, their spouses from the mainland, and mainland students who study in Kinmen, as Taiwan authorities claimed it was due to concerns over the contagion.

Huang Shih-cheng, deputy president of Quanzhou Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises, who hails from Kinmen and has been working in Quanzhou for four years, said, "We have waited for three years and it finally resumed."

But he said, "Many Taiwan people living in the mainland couldn't return to Taiwan through the routes because they don't have household registrations in Kinmen. A lot of them haven't been back to their hometowns for three years."

Condemning the island authorities for creating obstacles and depriving Taiwan people of their right to return home, Huang said, "They should stop political manipulation for the excuse of COVID-19 and harming people's lives."

Huang Shanzhen, office director of the ferry terminal in Quanzhou, said local authorities arranged floral bouquets for passengers on Friday to welcome them.

The ferry service boosts cross-Straits personnel exchanges, economic, trade and cultural exchanges and cooperation, and also promotes the tourism sector in both places, she said.