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The new initiative was exposed in a protocol signed between China's Ministry of Railways and the government of Fujian province. According to the signed protocol, the project is to get underway in 2008, with 1,900 kilometers of railway lines in place by 2020.
Much of this construction will take place within Fujian province, which lies along the Taiwan Strait facing Taiwan. Railway lines will connect the province's major cities of Fuzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou with one another, then head inland to the provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, A separate line will head to Guangdong province and the special economic zone of Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong.
When this high-speed railway project is finished, the whole of Fujian province will be conveniently connected to central and western China, as well as to the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas. It is expected to facilitate trade across southern China and to bring considerable economic benefit to Fujian.
The map of the planned railway includes an eventual extension to Taipei. If realized, it would enable Taiwanese travelers and business people to board a train in Taipei that would carry them as far as Beijing or Kunming.
The construction of the high-speed railway is not the first such initiative designed to cross the Taiwan Strait. In 2004 the Ministry of Communications published a plan for an express highway between Beijing and Taipei, to be completed by 2030. The Taiwan Strait would be crossed by an undersea tunnel.
The country's first undersea tunnel, nine kilometers in length, is currently being built in the coastal city of Xiamen, across the strait from Taiwan. The tunnel, which delves six kilometers below sea level, has been under construction since 2005 and is due for completion in 2010.
A tunnel bridging the Taiwan Strait would be much more ambitious, as it would have to traverse 150 kilometers.
In 2005 the government announced plans for five major undersea tunnels to be built in the next 20 to 30 years, including the one linking the mainland with Taiwan. The other four would connect Hong Kong with Macau or Zhuhai, Dalian withYantai, Shanghai with Ningbo, and Hainan Island with the mainland.
Political issues aside, China is planning its infrastructure development for the long term. It is hoping that continued economic development will lure the Taiwanese into an ever-closer economic relationship, leading eventually to reunification.
Since China initiated its open door policy in the late 1970s, the mainland and Taiwan economies have become increasingly interdependent. After both of them joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, economic ties have strengthened further.
However, despite closer economic engagement, political relations between Taiwan and the mainland have become increasingly strained, especially since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2000. Led by Chen Shui-bian, Taiwanese politicians have advocated an independent "Taiwan Republic," thereby challenging China's ambitions for reunification.
China has consistently proposed closer economic and transport links as a strategy to hold off Taiwan's moves toward independence. The railway and tunnel construction plans are merely an extension of this strategy -- and are based on the presumption of success.
China has effectively used its international influence to isolate Taiwan politically -- only 23 states now recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation thanks to China's aggressive diplomacy and insistence on a "one China" policy in all major international bodies. At the same time China has been equally aggressive in engaging Taiwan economically. In this carrot-and-stick approach, the high-speed railway is one of the carrots on offer.
Many Taiwanese, especially businessmen, oppose the DPP administration's policies and hope for better relations with the mainland. The growing dissatisfaction with the DPP was reflected in the party's huge losses in the recent legislative elections, and the party is very likely to lose in the March "presidential" election.
Regardless of which party wins in March, the future Taiwan government will likely distance itself from the Chen administration. Both the DPP candidate and that of the opposition Kuomintang have explicitly or implicitly expressed a willingness to engage China economically, seeing this as a clear benefit for the Taiwan people. If the pro-unification KMT wins the election, it will very likely introduce new cooperative polices toward the mainland.
It may take awhile for even the KMT to agree to the high-speed railway and tunnel plans. With a target completion date of 2030, however, the plans may not be at all unrealistic.
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(Zhang Quanyi is an associate professor at the Zhejiang Wanli University in Ningbo, China, and a Ph.D. candidate at Shanghai International Studies University, studying policy making and collective identity. His research interests focus on conflict management and identity construction. He can be contacted at qyzhangupi@gmail.com. ©Copyright Zhang Quanyi.)
