Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je has come under fire for his proposal to build a bridge linking Taiwan’s offshore islet of Quemoy and the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, with opponents claiming the span would be a “Trojan horse” serving only to aid any potential attack by the People’s Liberation Army.
Ko, known for his friendly stand towards the mainland, revived the long-shelved idea during a recent visit to Quemoy, also known as Kinmen, where he said the bridge would not only help promote prosperity on the former Taiwan defence outpost but also ease cross-strait tensions.
With a population of some 140,000, Quemoy is 10km east of Xiamen and 200km west of coastal Taiwan.
“If you ask me what to do, I suggest that we build a cross-sea bridge linking the airport in Xiamen and Kinmen,” said Ko, head of the Taiwan People’s Party, during a visit to the islet cluster on June 18 to open a committee office for the party.
“This way, at least half of the problems now facing Kinmen, including population, water and power supply and garbage disposal could be dealt with,” he said.
The bridge to the Xiamen airport could also provide an alternative for Quemoy residents seeking to travel abroad, he said. Currently, they must first take domestic flights to Taiwan to board international air carriers there.
Ko also proposed building a hospital to draw mainlanders to Quemoy for medical treatment.
Quemoy could serve as a buffer zone for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Ko said, referring to the growing cross-strait hostility since Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected president in 2016 and refused to accept the one-China principle.
“Try it first and deal with the problems if they occur,” he said.
Ko’s proposal, however, drew harsh criticism from DPP members and independence supporters.
“Does he know it would create the risk of opening the way for the PLA to attack Taiwan?” DPP legislator Lin Chun-hsien asked on Thursday.
Lin noted that the two sides have had “three mini-links” since 2001, which Lin called sufficient for bilateral exchanges.
When Tsai led Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, she approved establishing the mini-links permitting direct trade, transit and postal exchanges between the Taiwan islets of Quemoy and Matsu and the mainland coastal cities of Xiamen and Fuzhou.
Over the years, through direct air and sea transport, the mini-links have eased a variety of issues, which now include some sporting, academic and cultural events.
Chang Po-yang, information director of the hardline pro-independence Taiwan Statebuilding Party, condemned Ko for proposing a “Trojan horse” scheme for the mainland.
“In taking Taiwan, the biggest obstacle the Chinese Communists are facing is the Taiwan Strait – and the foolish proposal of building the bridge is what they most desire,” Chang said.
Taipei City Councillor Lin Ying-meng, an independent, said that a bridge would turn Taiwan into a part of mainland China, and that such a proposal was tantamount to “treason”.
Even Kuomintang, the main opposition party, responded to Ko’s proposal cautiously. “As the proposal involves national defence, economic and cross-strait issues, the government should review it carefully before making a decision,” said Tseng Ming-tsung, head of the legislature’s KMT caucus.
In response, Ko asked since the DPP and other opponents had nothing against Tsai’s mini-links with Xiamen and Fuzhou, why couldn’t they support the bridge?
The Mainland Affairs Council called Ko’s comparison unreasonable.
“With China continuing to employ various means – including military, diplomatic, political and economic measures to ramp up pressure on us – building the bridge would only facilitate China’s merger of Taiwan,” it said.
In Quemoy, the incumbent and former heads of the county government have supported the proposal, and others say it is a popular idea.
“It has long been a common desire of most people in Kinmen to build the bridge, given that it concerns the development here,” Quemoy magistrate Yang Cheng-wu said. Opponents of the proposal, Yang said, should have an open mind to discuss it.
Former magistrate Chen Fu-hai, former Quemoy county council speaker Hung Yu – tien as well as KMT legislator Chen Yu-chen, who is from Quemoy, have also supported the idea, saying it is a common hope of Quemoy residents.
The Quemoy county government first raised the idea of a bridge in 2006 by asking a consulting company to study its feasibility.
In 2008, the mainland Fujian provincial government outlined a plan to develop a highway network on the western coast, and a Xiamen-Quemoy bridge was discussed.
After Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT was elected president of Taiwan in 2008, he also asked the Quemoy government to study the plan’s feasibility during a visit in 2009. But he later appeared to have other political concerns, which resulted in the proposal’s indefinite shelving.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also raised the connectivity issue during a speech in January 2019 and specifically mentioned moving forward with water, electricity, gas, and bridge projects between Quemoy and Matsu and the coastal areas of Fujian.
In February that year, the mainland’s State Council unveiled its 2021-2035 transport expansion plan, which includes a rail link from Beijing, passing through Fuzhou and Pingtan, and connecting to Taiwan via construction of an underwater tunnel beneath the Taiwan Strait.
The Beijing-Fuzhou rail line and Fuzhou-Pingtan segment have been completed. What remains is the construction of the Pingtan-to-Taiwan line that needs consent from Taipei – which appears unlikely because of political and security concerns raised by the Tsai government.
This article was first published in Asia One . All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
