

A proposal has been put before the Chinese National People’s Congress for the construction of a high-speed rail line connecting Beijing with Taipei, much to the amusement of Taiwanese netizens.

The plan is part of a raft of proposals being considered by China’s rubber-stamp parliament for inclusion in the 13th Five-Year Plan (better pay attention to the shisanwu), which would see the construction of an additional 30,000 kilometers of high-speed rail line and 50 new airports.

According to Apple Daily, the line would head south from Beijing and pass through Hefei, capital of Anhui province, before veering south-east towards Fujian province. From there the line would tunnel under the Taiwan Strait and connect with Taipei.

Although the leadership in Taiwan don’t appear to have been consulted about the line, we can imagine they might object to such a plan, especially after Hong Kong media recently reported that high-speed rail projects were being built with a military application in mind.

Local Press Hong Kong claim that the motivation behind the high-speed line under construction between the former British colony and the mainland was to allow for the rapid dispatch of troops and equipment in case of a military confrontation.

The Taiwanese were highly amused by the idea. “Do they think they’re playing railroad tycoon or something? This is completely impossible at the moment,” wrote one netizen. “Finally unified!” wrote other.

“Simply cover the world in high-speed rail!!” said Daniel Shih. “You idiot, next they’ll build a line to the moon, then to Mars!” wrote CH Cheng.

[Image via Apple Daily]



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