Taiwan Says No Plans to for Xiamen-Kinmen Bridge As China Flaunts Work Progress

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan says it has no plans to build a bridge between the Chinese city of Xiamen and Taiwan's outlying Kinmen islands, after China says a group of Kinmen residents went to see China's progress on their side of the bridge, which it started building in 2023.

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00:00Taiwan says there are no plans to build a bridge between its outlying islands of Jinmen and the

00:05Chinese city of Xiamen. That's after China appears to be trying to show that there is

00:11local support for the project. The Chinese government says that a group of residents

00:15from Jinmen for the first time visited the construction site for the Xiamen side of this

00:20bridge, which China has been building since 2023. China said the group supported the bridge and said

00:25hoped it would open as soon as possible. Jinmen's legislator Chen Yuzhen also confirmed the trip to

00:31Taiwan Plus. So why is this significant? Jinmen is just a few kilometers from Xiamen on China's southeast

00:37coast, so it's actually closer to China than it is to the main island of Taiwan. There are already

00:43ferries running routinely between the two sides, but China wants to connect them even further with

00:48a physical bridge. But this plan has always been very controversial. It's part of Beijing's efforts

00:54to integrate China and Taiwan in various ways, with the ultimate goal of bringing Taiwan under

01:00its control. Taiwan's government has called the bridge a national security risk and has never

01:05agreed to it. Despite that, China has gone ahead with building a portion of the bridge on its side.

01:11And now, with bringing this group over, China seems to be trying to emphasize that it does have local

01:16support for the bridge, as it urges the Taiwanese government to support it as well. And some in Jinmen do

01:22support it, seeing it as an easier way to get to Xiamen, where many Jinmen residents own property or

01:27businesses or have family. And they say it could bring more economic opportunities, too. But others

01:33fear it might endanger Jinmen's freedoms or bring unwanted investment. Regardless of how people in Jinmen

01:39feel, though, Taiwan's government is standing firm on its opposition to the bridge. This is what the

01:44mainland affairs council, which handles relations with China, is saying about it.

01:48So this apparent show of support by Jinmen residents for this bridge has put it in the spotlight once

02:04again. But it doesn't seem like Taiwan's government will budge on approving the project from its end

02:09anytime soon. Ryan Wu, Alex Chen and Cadence Kranta for Taiwan Plus.

02:13Thanks for having us.

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