Wu Zhiming, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference:The preliminary work of the Beijing-Taiwan Expressway Strait Passage should be started as soon as possible

The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) learned from Wu Zhiming, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Fujian Provincial CPC Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, that during the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, he will submit to the Third Session of the Thirteenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference a proposal entitled "Proposal on Starting the Preliminary Work of the Beijing-Taiwan Expressway Strait Corridor as Soon as Possible" (hereinafter referred to as the "Proposal"), hoping that the state can start the preliminary work of the Beijing-Taiwan Expressway Strait Corridor as soon as possible.

Wu Zhiming Infographic

The proposal said that the construction of a high-speed railway highway from Beijing to Taiwan (Taipei) has been included in the national medium- and long-term high-speed rail highway network plan. At the end of 2015, the high-speed railway highway from Beijing to Fuzhou has been opened to traffic; this year, the expressway and railway from Fuzhou to Pingtan Island will also be completed and opened to traffic. Pingtan is only 68 nautical miles from Hsinchu, Taiwan, and is the closest place on the mainland to the main island of Taiwan, and the construction of the Taiwan Strait passage that carries the expectations of compatriots on both sides of the strait will also be put on the agenda.

"The preliminary work I am referring to refers to the academic and theoretical level of the argument, which may or may not be able to do after the argument is completed, but it must enter the preliminary work as soon as possible." Wu Zhiming told the surging news.

He held that under the current complicated international situation and the new development situation on both sides of the strait, it is the greatest common denominator of the people on both sides of the strait to actively carry out people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation, to gather consensus in cooperation and exchanges, and to seek common ground while reserving differences and seek common development.

Wu Zhiming pointed out in the proposal that the preliminary work of launching the Beijing-Taiwan Expressway Strait Passage is of great significance, which is not only a concrete embodiment of the implementation of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's instruction that "all should be accessible", which is conducive to the opening of the main artery of cross-strait transportation, but also the embodiment of the sincerity of peaceful development of the two sides of the strait, which is conducive to directly narrowing the geographical and psychological distance between the people on both sides of the strait, benefiting the people on both sides of the strait, and is of great significance to promoting the integration and development of the two sides of the strait and ultimately realizing peaceful reunification.

"The Chinese nation wants great rejuvenation, and national reunification is very important, so the preliminary work of the strait tunnel should be done as soon as possible." Wu Zhiming told the surging news that with reference to the experience of large-scale cross-sea projects at home and abroad, it is better to start the preliminary work of the project sooner rather than later. Among them, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge lasted for 35 years from the proposal made by wealthy Hong Kong businessmen in 1985 to the official opening of traffic in 2019, and the construction alone took nearly 9 years. The construction of the famous Anglo-French undersea tunnel lasted more than eight years, from the signing of the Canterbury Treaty on the connection between France and the United Kingdom in February 1986 to the official opening of the tunnel in May 1994. As Wang Mengshu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in tunnel and underground engineering, said: "Early research is better than late research." In addition, the accumulation of experience in the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the Pingtan Public Railway Dual-use Bridge and other cross-sea projects, technical support and the results of the Undersea Tunnel Construction Forum jointly held by experts and scholars every two years, as well as more than 20 years of research and demonstration by experts on bridge and tunnel engineering on both sides of the strait, have laid a good foundation for the preliminary work of starting the Beijing-Taiwan Expressway Strait Passage.

After in-depth investigation, Wu Zhiming believes that the current conditions for starting the preliminary work of the Straits Passage have basically been met, and he put forward the following suggestions for this purpose:

First, gather consensus from the national level, and deeply understand the practical significance and urgency of starting the preliminary work of the Beijing-Taiwan Expressway Strait Passage as soon as possible. The construction of the Beijing-Taiwan Strait passage carries the dream of realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and is also a necessary means to realize the peaceful reunification of the motherland, hoping that it can become a major gift project for the 100th anniversary of the founding of New China.

Second, the national level will take the lead in establishing a permanent institution for the preliminary work of the Beijing-Taiwan Strait Corridor, implement staffing, work responsibilities, and funding input, establish a service coordination mechanism, continue to promote the preliminary work of the project, and regularly hold seminars, forums and carry out international exchanges.

Third, give full play to the advantages of the system, rely on the Chinese Academy of Engineering to take the lead in launching special technical research on major national topics, unify the management and decomposition of topics, organize professional scientific research units to cooperate in tackling key problems, and solve technical problems for project construction. At the same time, the construction of the strait passage will be included in the major bidding project of the National Social Science Fund.

Fourth, strengthen fund-raising and capacity research. The construction of the Strait Passage project takes a long time and costs a lot, and it requires a practical and feasible capital budget and the issuance of patriotic financial bonds to compatriots around the world. It is necessary to give play to the comparative economic advantages of the two sides of the strait, plan the industrial layout in advance, conscientiously study the plan for integrating the flow of people, logistics, capital, and information after the completion of the strait passage, carry out macroeconomic regulation and control, and scientifically manage it, give full play to the transportation capacity and influence of the strait passage, promote the comprehensive and in-depth integration and development of all fields on both sides of the strait, and build the Beijing-Taiwan expressway channel into a century project and a rejuvenation project that is politically necessary, technically reliable, and economically mutually beneficial, and will benefit compatriots on both sides of the strait.