China’s Fujian Province is to attempt to complete a project to supply water to Kinmen ahead of schedule amid requests that the project deadline be moved forward, its governor said yesterday.
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) made the request during a meeting with Fujian Provincial Governor Su Shulin (蘇樹林) yesterday.
Thanking Fujian for agreeing to sell water to Kinmen, Lin said that he hoped water could be supplied before 2017, when the project is expected to be completed.
Work on the project began this year, “but the supply of water is not scheduled to begin until 2017 under the current plan,” Lin said.
“[I] hope the deadline can be moved forward,” he added.
Su said that Fujian would do its utmost to complete the water supply project and begin pumping water to Kinmen as soon as possible.
Apart from water, Kinmen has also asked Fujian to supply electricity and natural gas, and to build a bridge connecting Kinmen and China, Su said.
“These are things that people in Kinmen want and that Fujian is willing to provide,” he said.
Saying he was aware of Taiwanese wishes for peace between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Su suggested the two sides increase cooperation and reduce confrontation.
“Confrontation does nothing but cause disasters,” he said.
Lin visited Su a day after meeting with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) in Fuzhou, China.
In the latest talks between the foundation and the ARATS, the 11th round of formal talks between the two bodies since 2008, the two sides signed agreements on double taxation avoidance and aviation safety.
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