The Taiwan Strait Tunnel Project is a proposed

undersea tunnel An underwater tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under the sea or a river. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is unviable, or to provide competition or relief for existing bridges or ferry l ...

to connect Pingtan in

Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, ), officially Hsinchu City, is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan that is not a special municipality, with estimated 450,655 inhabitants. Hsinchu is a coastal city bordering the Taiwan ...

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 ...

as part of the

G3 Beijing–Taipei Expressway The Beijing–Taipei Expressway (), designated as G3 and commonly known as the Jingtai Expressway (), is a partially completed expressways of China, Chinese expressway that, if fully constructed, would connect the China, People's Republic of Chi ...

. It has seen a few academic studies from the

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 ...

side, but no interest from the

side, which views such proposals as propaganda. In addition to political factors, the project is generally not considered realistic due to technical and cost concerns.

Proposals

First proposed in 1996, the project has since been subject to a number of academic discussions, including by the China Railway Engineering Society. The route between Pingtan and Hsinchu has been proposed because of its short distance and its relative geological stability (in a region frequented by earthquakes). In 2005, an academic from the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences a ...

stated that the project was one of five major undersea tunnel projects under consideration for the next twenty to thirty years.

Reception in Taiwan

The project is not considered viable due to the staggering costs, unsolved technical problems, and foremost a lack of interest from the Taiwanese. At nearly undersea, the proposed tunnel would be 6.4 times longer than the existing Seikan Tunnel (), nearly 4 times longer than the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

() (the current longest underwater tunnel segment), and two-thirds longer than the proposed

Bohai Strait tunnel project The Bohai Strait Tunnel or Dalian-Yantai Tunnel is a proposed undersea tunnel construction project across the Bohai Strait to connect Dalian on the Liaodong Peninsula with Yantai on the Shandong Peninsula. The official name for the project is Bo ...

. In addition, Taiwan is much concerned about the tunnel's potential use by China in military actions. Nonetheless, in July 2013, the

Chinese State Council The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the ex ...

approved plans for the project. As the relation between Taiwan and China worsens, the proposal has been mocked in Taiwan, along with the Beijing–Taipei high-speed rail corridor.

References

External links

An Engineering Concept of the Taiwan Strait TunnelSocioeconomic Impact of the Taiwan Strait Tunnel
Cross-strait relations Proposed transport infrastructure in China Proposed transportation infrastructure in Taiwan Proposed undersea tunnels in Asia {{Taiwan-transport-stub

Proposals

Reception in Taiwan

See also

References

External links