The plan also includes a twin high-speed railway and indicates that China is convinced it will take back the island by then. For the Taiwanese, this is pure “science fiction”. Meanwhile, the US announces new military aid to Taipei and does not rule out its participation in the RIMPAC military exercises.
Taipei () – China relaunches its project to build a highway and a high-speed railway by 2035 connecting Beijing with Taiwan through Fuzhou, in the southeastern province of Fujian. Taking into account that Taiwan opposes the initiative, it follows that the Chinese think that by that date they will have reunified the island, by force or peacefully.
References to the gigantic project appear in the National Road Network Plan, published in recent days by the Chinese government. This is a revision of the scheme presented in February last year. Chinese plans include two more highways connecting Quanzhou and Kinmen, the Taipei-administered archipelago across from Fujian.
According to the Taiwanese government, the Chinese highway project is a means of propaganda, a “science fiction novel”, explains taiwannews. Not only because of the implications for Taiwan’s sovereignty, but also because of the logistical -and therefore economic- challenge that it entails. The two links imagined by Beijing would necessarily have to pass through the Taiwan Strait; the shortest sea stretch between Fujian and the Taiwanese coast is 68 nautical miles (126 kilometers).
China regards Taiwan as a “rogue province” and has never ruled out reunifying it by force. The island has been de facto independent of Beijing since 1949; At that time, the nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek took refuge there after losing the civil war on the mainland against the communists, which made it the heir to the Republic of China founded in 1912.
With the Taiwan Relations Act (Taiwan Relations Act), the United States promised to defend the island, mainly with military supplies. Adopted in 1979 after the formal diplomatic recognition of Communist China, the law does not specify, however, whether Washington will respond to Chinese aggression against Taipei.
Yesterday, the Biden administration announced the approval of a new military aid package to Taiwan, the fourth in 2022. Valued at 108 million dollars, it includes the sale of equipment and parts for war tanks and combat vehicles, as well as assistance corresponding technique.
On July 14, the United States House of Representatives passed its version of the Taiwan Peace and Stability Act, and included it as an amendment to the 2023 military budget bill. Among other provisions, it requires the US government to invite Taiwan to the 2024 RIMPAC military exercises. the Pacific. Before going into effect, the final text must be approved by the Senate and signed by President Biden.
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