China highway plan includes road links to Taiwan by 2035

BEIJING — A plan to build road links to Taiwan from the southern Chinese province of Fujian by 2035 was included in China’s nationwide highway network plan, which was released earlier this month.

Amid ongoing military tensions between China and Taiwan, the plan is believed to be part of Beijing’s psychological campaign against the island, with an eye on its future unification, which Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to fulfill.

According to the plan unveiled July 12, the highway will extend from Beijing to Taiwan’s largest city, Taipei, via Fuzhou in Fujian Province. Two roads connecting Taiwan’s Kinmen island to the Fujian cities of Quanzhou and Xiamen were also included in the plan.

The document did not state whether the road spanning the Taiwan Strait would be undersea tunnels or bridges.

In a road network plan released in February 2021, the Xi administration outlined a project to connect Fuzhou and Taipei by road and highspeed train. An additional two roads to Kinmen were included in the latest plan.

Taiwan has not agreed to the development of road links, which it believes would be security risks.

Some in Taiwan think the plan is linked to Beijing’s goal of unification, which the majority of Taiwan residents reject.

“They’re trying to make a mockery of Taiwan again,” stated an article published in the digital edition of Taiwan newspaper United Daily News on July 14.