The Taiwan Strait is a
strait separating the
island of Taiwan and the
Asian continent. The strait is part of the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
and connects to the
East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide.
Names
Former names of the Taiwan Strait include the or from a dated name for
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
; the or Fujian, from
the Chinese province forming the strait's western shore; and the , a
calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...
of the strait's name in
Hokkien
Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...
and
Hakka.
Geography

The Taiwan Strait is the body of water separating
Fujian Province from
Taiwan Island. The international agreement does not define the Taiwan Strait but places its waters within the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
, whose northern limit runs from
Cape Fugui (the northernmost point on
Taiwan Island; Fukikaku) to
Niushan Island to the southernmost point of
Pingtan Island and thence westward along the parallel N. to the coast of
Fujian Province. The draft for a new edition of the
IHO's ''
Limits of Oceans and Seas'' does precisely define the Taiwan Strait, classifying it as part of the
North Pacific Ocean. It makes the Taiwan Strait a body of water ''between'' the
East
East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
and
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
s and delimits it:
The entire strait is on Asia's
continental shelf. It is almost entirely less than deep, with a short
ravine of that depth off the southwest coast of Taiwan. As such, there are many islands in the strait. The largest and most important islands off the coast of Fujian are
Xiamen,
Gulangyu,
Pingtan (the "Haitan" of the IHO delineation),
Kinmen
Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from wh ...
, and
Matsu. The first three are controlled by the People's Republic of China (PRC); the last two by the Republic Of China (ROC). Within the strait lie the
Penghu
The Penghu ( , Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, about west of the main island of Taiwan across the Penghu Ch ...
or the Pescadores, also controlled by the ROC. There is a major
underwater bank north of the Penghu Islands.
All of Fujian Province's rivers except the
Ting run into the Taiwan Strait. The largest two are the
Min and the
Jiulong.
Median line
A theoretical "median line", also known as the Davis line, was defined down the middle of the strait by US Air Force General
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. in 1955, after which the US pressured both sides not to cross it. As a tacit understanding, it never gained official or legal status.
The PRC has never recognized the median line.
Aircraft from Taiwan crossed it frequently until the
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1958. Between 1954 and 2019, generally did not cross the area, with military craft crossing three times in that period.
In 2019, Taiwan's defense ministry provided coordinates for the median line. The ministry recognizes the line as running from 27°N, 122°E in the north to 23°N, 118°E on the southern end.
In 2019, PLA warplanes crossed the median line for the first time since 1999. In 2020, the
PRC Foreign Ministry explicitly denied the existence of a median line and no longer act as if such a line exists.
Geology
Sediment distribution
Each year, Taiwan's rivers carry up to 370 million tons of sediments into the sea, including 60 to 150 million tons deposited into the Taiwan Strait.
During the past ten thousand years, 600 billion tons of riverine sediments have been deposited in the Taiwan Strait, locally forming a lobe up to 40 m thick in the southern part of the Taiwan Strait.
History

The Strait mostly separated the
Han culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
of the Chinese mainland from
Taiwan Island's
aborigines for millennia, although the
Hakka and
Hoklo traded and migrated across it.
European explorers, principally the
Portuguese,
Spanish and
Dutch, also took advantage of the strait to establish forward bases for trade with the mainland during the
Ming; the bases were also used for
raiding both the Chinese coast and the trading ships of rival countries.
Widespread Chinese migration across the strait began in the late
Ming. During the
Qing conquest, Zheng Chenggong (
Koxinga) expelled the Dutch and established the
Kingdom of Tungning in 1661, planning to launch a reconquest of the mainland in the name of the
Southern Ming branches of the old imperial dynasty.
Dorgon and the
Kangxi Emperor were able to consolidate their control over southern mainland China; Koxinga found himself limited to raiding across the strait. His grandson
Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing after his admiral lost the 1683
Battle of the Penghu Islands in the middle of the strait.
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
seized the
Penghu Islands during the
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...
and gained control of Taiwan at its conclusion in 1895. Control of the eastern half of the strait was used to establish control of the southern Chinese coast during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The strait protected Japanese bases and industry in Taiwan from Chinese attack and sabotage, but
aerial warfare reached the island by 1943. The 1944
Formosa Air Battle gave the
United States Pacific Fleet air supremacy from its
carrier groups and
Philippine bases; subsequently, the bombing was continuous until
Japan's surrender in 1945. The
rapid advance of the
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
PLA in 1949 provoked the government's
retreat across the Taiwan Strait.
In the aftermath of the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
,
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
had multiple brief armed conflicts on the Taiwan Strait, consequently named the
First Taiwan Strait Crisis, the
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, and the
Third Taiwan Strait Crisis. These confrontations did not result in large-scale military conflicts between China and Taiwan. In the 21st century, the
Cross-Strait relations stabilized, leading to the establishment of
Three Links on 15 December 2008, with the commencement of direct commercial flights, shipping, and post across the Taiwan Strait.
On 25 May 2002,
China Airlines Flight 611 broke up in mid-air and crashed into the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.
On 26 February 2022, China denounced the sailing of the U.S. Navy's
7th Fleet guided-missile destroyer through the Taiwan Strait as a "provocative act".
Since 2018
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
has denied that the concept of
international waters
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...
applies to the Taiwan Strait. China does not claim sovereignty over the entire strait but seeks to regulate what it views as "support for the Taiwan authorities and muscle-flexing against the mainland".
This position has led to concerns from American, Australian, and French officials and objection from Taiwan. "International waters" is technically not defined by the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 169 sov ...
, and there is no high seas corridor within the Taiwan Strait, but transit rights mimicking high seas such as
innocent passage and
freedom of navigation are generally allowed within
exclusive economic zone
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...
s.
Economy
Fishermen have used the strait as a fishing resource since time immemorial. In the modern world, it is the gateway used by ships of almost every kind on passage to and from nearly all the important ports in
Northeast Asia. Chinese vessels often trespass into Taiwanese territorial waters to fish or dredge sand, leading to interceptions by the
Coast Guard Administration as well as seizures, confiscations, and fines.
Taiwan is building major
wind farms in the strait.
Gallery
See also
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
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{{Authority control
Straits of Asia
Straits of the Pacific Ocean
International straits
Straits of Taiwan
Straits of China
East China Sea
Straits of the South China Sea
Bodies of water of Fujian