The Taiwan Strait Tunnel Project is an undersea tunnel

Undersea tunnel

An undersea tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under a body of water. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is impossible, or to provide competition for existing bridges or ferry links...

 or bridge proposed primarily by the PRC government to link Pingtan

Pingtan

-Locations in China:* Pingtan County , of Fuzhou, Fujian* Pingtan Island , in Pingtan County* Pingtan Town , in Jiao District, Yangquan, Shanxi* Pingtan Subdistrict , in Kuang District, Yangquan, Shanxi...

 in China to Hsinchu

Hsinchu

Hsinchu City is a city in northern Taiwan. Hsinchu is popularly nicknamed "The Windy City" for its windy climate.Hsinchu City is administered as a special municipality within Taiwan . The city is bordered by Hsinchu County to the north and east, Miaoli County to the south, and the Taiwan Strait...

 in northern Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. It forms part of the "7 longitudinal 7 latitudinal" expressway plan proposed in 2004. However, the project has never been considered realistic because of its staggering cost, technical difficulties, dubious economic benefits, and risks to ROC national security. At nearly 150 km, the proposed tunnel would be nearly 3 times the length of the Channel Tunnel

Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...

 across the English Channel. In addition to the cross-strait tunnel, the PRC government envisions four other tunnels, between Hong Kong-Macao-Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai, Dalian-Yantai, Shanghai-Ningbo, and Guangdong-Hainan. The project also includes the construction of bridges in areas that have technical problems with the rock and soil. Construction has begun on the first tunnel in Xiamen

Xiamen

Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...

, Fujian

Fujian

' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

. The 9 kilometre tunnel of which 6 of the kilometres is under the sea, is expected to be completed in the year 2010.

Planning

In April 2007, a feasibility seminar was held by traffic association of Fujian Province and Taiwan Chinese road association to discuss the project. The meeting explored structures, technologies and research endeavors for the “passway”. Scholars and experts are still considering many engineering, technical, and construction issues for both sides of the Taiwan Strait. There has been no substantial progress in the cross-strait tunnel project since this seminar.

Socioeconomic impact

While its proponents in Beijing envisage the project as boosting economic ties between Taiwan and China, the Taiwan Strait Tunnel Project is generally thought not to be a financially viable project due to its likely astronomical costs and technical difficulties. Moreover, the tunnel's potential for aggressive military use remains a concern to Taiwan.

External links

• An Engineering Concept of the Taiwan Strait Tunnel