Dismissing China's Minister of Communications Zhang Chun-xian's (
"Before technicians are able to overcome the technical difficulties and potential hazards of construction [for the project], the proposal is simply impractical," Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
"If the Chinese government really wants to contribute and do something good for the relationship between Beijing and Taipei, we hope it will be something more practical than this," he said.
Zhang announced yesterday that China will construct seven highways around Beijing as well as nine north-south and 18 east-west highways right across the country.
The highway network will be nicknamed "7918 net" based on this distribution of carriageways. The highway to Taipei is also connected to the "7918 net."
"The idea behind building the highway network as well as a highway to Taipei is to increase the communication, in terms of traffic and the economy, within the country," Zhang said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications responded to the grand plan with a "no comment" yesterday.
When first asked whether the ministry would comment on the plan, Vice Minister Tsai Duei (
"I read it in the evening newspaper. But I can't comment on anything at the moment because I really doubt the reliability of the story," Tsai said.
If the highway is built, technicians will face the challenge of building a tunnel between Taiwan and Fujian 130km in length.
Currently, the longest underwater tunnel in the world is the Aomori Hakodate Tunnel in Japan, which is almost 54km in length.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS