Taiwan and China have yet to communicate over the construction of the high-speed rail system connecting Beijing and Taipei, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Jian-yu (陳建宇) said yesterday, adding that the project would be more than just a transportation matter.
The project, which was made public at the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing on Saturday, was listed as part of the five-year plan China wants to accomplish by 2020.
Yesterday it became the focus of the question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei, during which Chen was scheduled to brief the lawmakers about the ministry’s administrative plans for the next fiscal year.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) both asked Chen to comment on the project.
“I have absolutely no information [about the project]. It would be more than just a transportation issue,” Chen said. “China has yet to talk to us [about the project] through any channel of communication.”
Lin said that China had proposed other transportation projects in the past, from building a freeway connecting Taipei and Beijing to including Taiwan as part of its railway network by constructing a bridge between Kinmen and Xiamen.
The project would require a 130km undersea tunnel, which would be longer than Japan’s tunnel connecting Hokkaido and Hoshu Islands (23km) and the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France (38km), he said.
Lin said that the Chinese government proposed the idea of the high-speed rail link to reinforce its belief that Taiwan is part of China and that it would consider the rail link an extension of its national transport network.
“They [China[ are taking advantage of us,” Lin added. “You should not even bother to waste time doing feasibility research on the project. Just ignore them next time when they bring up a similar project.”
Meanwhile, Chen was also questioned about the problems afflicting the MRT line connecting Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei Area.
The ministry announced on Friday last week that it would have to postpone the launch of the system a sixth time due to a contractor’s continuous failure to fulfill its contractual obligations in terms of the average speed of the trains, express train services and the interval at which the trains are to be deployed.
DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) and several other lawmakers passed a resolution yesterday asking the ministry to form an ad hoc group of independent experts to inspect all aspects of the construction of the line.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said Taiwan has become the joke of the international community because it has spent 11 years building the airport MRT system and it is still not operational.
Bureau of High Speed Rail Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) said that the contractor, Marubeni Corp, has been asked to increase the average speed of the trains by the end of June, adding that the system would be handed over to Taoyuan Metro Corp in July for preoperational testing if the integrated system testing goes well.
Apart from fining Marubeni for its failure to meet its contractual obligations, Chen said that the ministry would seek compensation for the damage caused by the delayed launch of the rail system.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS