Archive for the ‘Taiwan’ Category
From ‘Taiwan Retaking Mainland’ to building a bridge linking the two
Source: Chinadaily.com.cn / 2008-08-25 09:02
‘TAIPEI - Taiwan is considering building a bridge linking Kinmen, one of its outlying islands, to Xiamen city in Fujian Province on the mainland, the Central News Agency said on Sunday, in a sign of improving cross-Straits ties.
“The idea, talked about by many Kinmen residents, of building a bridge between Kinmen and Xiamen in southeastern Fujian province could also be discussed,” the agency quoted Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou as saying.
The government will complete a proposal by the end of the year on whether constructing the bridge would be feasible, Ma was quoted as saying in Kinmen.
Ma, who was in Kinmen to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1958 artillery battle between Taiwan and the mainland, also said the island planned to offer landing visas or multiple visas to mainlanders visiting Kinmen, to boost tourism exchanges.
Ma has been unveiling a slew of policies to boost trade ties with the mainland, such as allowing more tourists to visit Taiwan and increasing direct flights.’
Chinationreport considers this news to be very significant for the future of Taiwan and China relationship.
According to Wikipedia/Kinmen:
Kinmen or Jinmen means literally “Golden Door” or “Golden Gate” in Mandarin. It is administered by Republic of China (ROC) government. But it is claimed as part of Fujian’s Quanzhou Prefecture by the People’s Republic of China. The island was the site of extensive shelling between PRC and ROC forces in the 1950s and 1960s and was a major issue in the 1960 United States Presidential Election between Kennedy and Nixon. In the 1950s, the United States threatened to use nuclear weapons against the PRC if it attacked the island.
Kinmen was originally a military preserve. However, the island was returned to the civilian government in the mid-1990s, and travel to and from Taiwan was allowed.
Kinmen witnesses history: ‘Retaking the mainland’
‘Wu Wang Zai Ju’ stone written by Chiang Kai Sek, photographed by seasurfer on 6.7.2005 in Kinmen.
中文: 蔣中正的毋忘在莒石碑 金門縣的莒光樓
English: Calligraphy by former President Chiang Kai-shek (Taiwan) etched on a rock in Kinmen reads, “Forget not that you’re in J?” - an allusion to the Warring States Period when the State of Qi, cornered into the City of Ju by the State of Yan, successfully counterattacked and retook its territory. This is intended as an analogy to the situation between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China. Other slogans alluding to “retaking the mainland” can still be found in Kinmen.
Xiamen is a coastal city in Fujian province, People’s Republic of China. It looks out to the Taiwan Strait and particulary Kinmen. Xiamen and the surrounding countryside are famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese and one of China’s earliest Special Economic Zones in the 1980s. It covers an area of 1 565 km² with a local population of 5 million. It was recently named China’s 2nd most livable city.
View of Xiamen from Gulangyu Island’s mountain peak. Foreground: Gulangyu. Background: Xiamen
Taken 2008-06-15, picture released in public domain
Text source: Wikipedia.org/Xiamen
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