China plans cross-strait highways with Taiwan

Beijing drafts plan for symbolic bridge, but lacks approval from Taiwanese authorities

The mainland government has recently approved a national road project that includes two cross-strait highways linking both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

If completed, the project would be a literal and figurative bridge between the mainland and Taiwan and would mark a major milestone in cross-strait relations.

However, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the island’s top cross-strait policy planning body, told the South China Morning Post the project had been “unilaterally worked out by mainland authorities“.

“Based on national security concerns and cross-strait interactions, we have not planned anything with such high political sensitivity and complexity,” the council said, spelling out the island’s political and security concerns.