Veteran team swimmer Wang Han (王瀚) plans to conquer the Taiwan Strait later this year.
The cross-strait swim will be Wang's first attempt in nine years since he and his team swam across the Messina Strait in June 1998.
Between 1986 and 1998, Wang and his team swam across 12 channels or straits around the world.
Wang, 55, said at a news conference that the cross-strait swim will be attempted by swimmers from both sides of the strait in three stages between this August and August 2009.
He lamented that despite economic prosperity, Taiwanese are not familiar with the oceans surrounding their island and that maritime leisure activities have never been popular.
He said he was once asked which channel or strait in the world he considers the most difficult to swim across. After a thoughtful pause he said that the Taiwan Strait poses the biggest challenge.
He saidd that he began to plan the cross-strait swim in September 2005, although concrete action did not start until last month after the cooperating party on the other side of the strait was finally determined -- the Exchanges Department of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council.
Twenty-five swimmers led by Wang will launch the first round of the swim between August and October this year, depending on the weather and prevailing currents.
The swimmers plan to swim from Tamsui, Taipei County or Nanliao, Hsinchu County to Pingtan in China's Fujian Province in a relay fashion, with each swimmer in the water for one hour.
Wang said that although the shortest distance between Taiwan and Fujian is 170km, it is more like 250km in terms of swimming.
The second round of the swim is scheduled to be launched between next April and May, also departing from Taiwan's Tamsui or Nanliao for Fujian's Pingtan, Wang said.
He said that for the third round, the 25 swimmers will depart from Pingtan for Tamsui or Nanliao, scheduled for between July and August of 2009.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS