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The 'Taiwan Strait' or 'Formosa Strait' is a 180km-wide strait between mainland China and the island of Taiwan. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to East China Sea to the northeast. The narrowest part is 131km wide.
Fujian province on the mainland is to the west of the strait, while important islands like Quemoy, Amoy, Hainan Island, and the Matsu Islands are nearby. To the east are the west coast of Taiwan and the Pescadores. The island fishermen use the strait as a fishing resource.
The Strait has been the theatre for several military confrontations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China since the last days of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 when the Kuomintang (KMT) forces led by Chiang Kai-shek retreated across the Strait and relocated its government on its final stronghold of Taiwan.
There have been discussions about the strategic importance of the Taiwan Strait. Some Japanese politicians claimed that the Taiwan Strait is an essential sea route for oil shipment from the Middle East via the Malacca Strait to Japan. However, some have argued this to be untrue ^[1]
As part of Mainland China's National Expressway Plan a tunnel, or possibly a bridge, was proposed in 2005 to link the cities of Fuzhou, Fujian and Taipei in Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait. If such an extreme construction would ever be built, it would by far exceed the length of any man-made tunnel in the world today. Engineers in Beijing claim that a tunnel is technically feasible, but politicians in Taiwan have dismissed the project as simply propaganda for Beijing's One-China Policy. ^[2]
The Minjiang and Jiulong Rivers empty into the strait.

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Notes

Further reading

See also

Notes

1. Myth of Strategic Location of the Taiwan Strait and Strategic Location of Luzon Strait; both from a blog.
2. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Front_Page/GA14Aa01.html

Further reading

★ Bush, R. & O'Hanlon, M. (2007). ''A War Like No Other: The Truth About China's Challenge to America''. Wiley. ISBN 0471986771

★ Bush, R. (2006). ''Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait''. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815712901

★ Carpenter, T. (2006). ''America's Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan''. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403968411

★ Cole, B. (2006). ''Taiwan's Security: History and Prospects''. Routledge. ISBN 0415365813

★ Copper, J. (2006). ''Playing with Fire: The Looming War with China over Taiwan''. Praeger Security International General Interest. ISBN 0275988880

★ Federation of American Scientists et al. (2006). Chinese Nuclear Forces and U.S. Nuclear War Planning

★ Gill, B. (2007). ''Rising Star: China's New Security Diplomacy''. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815731469

★ Shirk, S. (2007). ''China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195306090

★ Tsang, S. (2006). ''If China Attacks Taiwan: Military Strategy, Politics and Economics''. Routledge. ISBN 0415407850

★ Tucker, N.B. (2005). ''Dangerous Strait: the U.S.-Taiwan-China Crisis''. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231135645

See also

★ Geography of China

★ Battle of Kuningtou

★ First Taiwan Strait Crisis

★ Second Taiwan Strait Crisis

★ Third Taiwan Strait Crisis

★ Mainland China

★ Political status of Taiwan

★ Taiwan Strait Tunnel Project