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TRANSPORTATION is currently the keyword in the economic development of Fujian Province, often juxtaposed with its “twin,” the Economic Development Zone on the West Bank of the Taiwan Straits (West Bank Development Zone). The zone has particular significance not only for Fujian Province, but also for the entire country; it plays a special role in mainland-Taiwan exchanges and hopes for the reunification of China.
The construction of the economic zone started with transportation. In early 2004, when the provincial government proposed the West Bank development idea, it set forth the basic principle of “transportation comes first.” Since then the provincial transportation department and road builders have functioned as trailblazers for this special regional economic entity, literally laying the foundation for its development and expansion.
The “Passage” Primacy
Fujian Province on China’s southeastern coast faces Taiwan and is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao. Its geographical location confers an advantage for reaching out to the international market. However, the local geography is hostile to inland communications; the complex terrain of imposing mountains and rolling hills indented by gullies and basins fragments communications among its many cities, towns and villages, while the Meihua, Daiyun and Wuyi mountain ranges block the province’s access to its inland neighbors. Five years ago, when local and regional expressways across the country were interconnected into a giant, national traffic web, Fujian was just on the threshold of expressway construction. Meantime, it watched its neighboring Yangtze and Pearl river delta economic zones siphoning outside capital and human resources and growing into the economic powerhouses of the country.
As one of the first provinces opened to the outside world, Fujian was both ashamed and horrified to see the widening gap between it and its developed neighbors and the narrowing of the territory that demarked it from underdeveloped areas. If the situation continued, how much farther would Fujian fall behind in the regional and national economic development drive? How could it fulfill its role in the cause of national reunification? The Fujian people felt the imperative to break out of its isolated condition by opening intra- and inter-provincial passages. In early 2004, the provincial government decided to launch the West Bank Development Zone and commissioned the transportation department to go ahead and open “passages” for it.
In February 2005 Lu Zhangong, then secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, summarized the urgency of the “passage” issue. He pointed out that lack of “passages” had been a main obstacle to Fujian’s development; “passages” were crucial to activating Fujian’s advantages in opening to the outside world, and to the convergence of industries and improvement of people’s lives; they were also fundamental to the amelioration of Cross-Straits relations.
When the West Bank Development Zone was promoted into a national development strategy in May 2009, the “passage” issue for Fujian also became a central government concern. In the same month, Premier Wen Jiabao visited Fujian, and when inspecting Xiamen Harbor he pointed out, “The construction of a transport thoroughfare is very important for the West Bank Development Zone. It involves construction of three channels: one, the direct navigation channel from Xiamen and other port cities along the Fujian coast to Taiwan; two, a broad passage network composed of high-speed railways, expressways and air routes that link the entire province to inland areas; and three, the access of Fujian, Xiamen in particular, to the international market.” Fujian transportation and the West Bankcarry the hopes for the development of the province, now more than ever.
New Height, New Goals
The building of a modern transportation network in the province has accompanied every stage of the West Bank construction since the birth of the development zone in early 2004. Statistics show that during the five-year period from 2004 to 2008, Fujian’s total investment in the construction of expressways, national and provincial highways, and harbor and navigation facilities exceeded the aggregate of the previous 50 years. In 2006, the annual investment broke the RMB 20 billion mark, and continued to increase by an annual addition of RMB 10 billion in the following two years. During the five years, Fujian inaugurated more than 1,000 kilometers of expressway and basically formed a road transport network composed of expressways, national and provincial highways, and rural roads complete with stations and terminal facilities. By then the province had basically realized the goal of bringing all its county seats and county-level cities within an hour’s reach of the expressway system.
However, Fujian still lagged behind its coastal counterparts in transportation, in terms of development scale, speed and efficiency, as well as concepts and management mechanism. To meet the development need of the economic zone, the provincial communications department proposed in 2008 the idea of “Great Harbors, Great Passages, and Great Logistics” – an idea based on strategic integration, in accordance with the guidance of the Ministry of Communications and the provincial government.
The new round of transportation endeavors started with the reshuffling of the management mechanism. In August 2009, the reorganized provincial communications department was officially announced. Apart from taking over the range of services of its predecessor, the new administration is also in charge of urban subway and rail transport systems, taxi operation, development of a comprehensive transport system and modern logistics, and coordination with relevant departments. It supervises the planning and construction of local airports as well.
The new administration made an audacious commitment to “accomplish the 10-Year Plan within five years” in its newly revised general framework for transportation development, and adjusted accordingly the construction plans for the West Bank Expressway System, the provincial highway network and harbor facilities.
According to the general plan, between 2009 and 2012 the provincial investment in construction of expressways, national and provincial highways and harbor facilities will be increased at an annual rate of 20 percent, to accomplish a four-year total of RMB 200 billion. The aggregate breaks up into an annual average of RMB 30 billion for expressways, RMB 10 billion for highways and RMB 10 billion for harbors. The province hopes to fulfill an expressway mileage of 5,000 kilometers by 2015, completing the West Bank expressway framework five years ahead of schedule. Before 2012 it will build or renovate 3,000 kilometers of national highways, establish a rural trunk network that links every county and township, and finish 16,000 kilometers of cement village roads. It will also try to complete five comprehensive transportation hubs and depots before 2012 and strengthen construction of harbors, waterways, general-use wharves, and freight and passenger convergence and distribution channels in major port cities like Fuzhou and Xiamen.
“The strategic elevation of the West Bank Development Zone to the national status has pushed the transportation sector to new heights, requiring us to go beyond ourselves,” said Li Dejin, head of the Fujian Provincial Communications Department. In order to live up to the new status and meet the development needs of the West Bank in the years ahead, Li Dejin and his people will concentrate their efforts on realizing the idea of “Great Harbors, Great Passages, and Great Logistics.” The harbor integration plan will bring into existence the Fuzhou, Xiamen and Meizhou harbor clusters that feature optimized utilization and sharing of harbor resources. The “Great Passages” include two north-south trunk roads that connect respectively with the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas, and two east-west roads that reach out to central and western China. For the “Great Logistics” goal, the administration will introduce advanced foreign models and experience, promote integration of small local operations, and help create a few big logistics companies to serve as role models and leaders of the industry. Meanwhile, it will also speed up infrastructure construction to smooth the logistics flow both within and out of the province.
A New Chapter of the “Three Links”
For decades, the Taiwan Straits separated people on its east and west banks, who are closely related geographically, historically and culturally. In the past, locals crossed the Straits to and fro freely, just like they go from one side of a city to another in order to make a living. But then historical and political developments stopped them from doing it any more.
In 1979, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress put forth the “Three Links” proposal in its open letter to Taiwan compatriots. The letter called for the opening of postal, navigational (sea and air) and commercial links across the Straits and ushered in an initial period of Cross-Straits exchanges between Fujian and Taiwan.
This historic development pushed the provincial communications department’s goal of realizing the three links to the forefront of its agenda. In 1984, it organized related experts to study technical issues impacting the opening of direct sea links, such as the selection of harbors and routes, types of ship, and technical and operational differences on the two banks. The finished report, “The Study of Navigational Regulations and Policies on the Two Banks of the Taiwan Straits,” proposed a preliminary plan for direct navigation channels across the Straits, together with solutions to relevant issues.
In March 1992, the provincial government proposed to go ahead with the “Three Links” by first realizing them between Fujian and Taiwan. The general idea was to start them on a non-governmental basis – first with direct shipping, and then proceed along little by little toward the achievement of the final targets. Beginning that year, shipping companies in Fujian and Taiwan held five seminars, discussing direct shipping issues and related business items. Meanwhile, special wharves for direct shipping started construction in Mawei, Xiamen and Meizhou Island.
However, it was not until five years later that a major political breakthrough was made under the concerted effort of relevant organizations and shipping businesses across the Straits. Direct shipping between Fujian and Taiwan was realized on April 19, 1997, when container ships Shengda of the Fujian Xiamen Shipping Corporation and Huarong of the Fujian Foreign Trade Center Shipping Company sailed out of Xiamen and Fuzhou respectively toward Kaohsiung, bringing to a close a lapse of half a century. It was followed by the inauguration of irregular shipping services for general and bulk cargo on July 4, 1997. On January 2, 2001 direct passenger services went into operation between Fujian’s coastal areas and Taiwan’s Kinmen, Mazu and Penghu islands. On November 4, 2008, the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation concluded the Cross-Straits Navigation Agreement, by which the mainland opens 63 and Taiwan 11 harbors for direct shipping for the time being. By then, the three decades of efforts had resulted in the normal operation of direct freight and passenger navigation across the Taiwan Straits.
Direct shipping services have made things easy for travelers and businesspeople on both banks of the Straits and Fujian has been trying to improve its navigation facilities. On September 6, 2009, COSCO Star, a roll on/roll off ship, made its maiden voyage from Xiamen to Taichung, becoming the mainland’s first roro that operates a regular service to Taiwan.
The mainland province now operates direct container, general and bulk cargo and passenger services to Taiwan and maintains its leading role in the cross-Straits exchanges. Statistics show that from January to November of 2009, direct passenger voyages between Fujian and Taiwan amounted to 12,155, carrying a total of 1.277 million people across the Straits. The majority of these voyages – 12,130, carrying a total of 1.273 million passengers – were made between coastal Fujian and the three Taiwan islands of Kinmen, Mazu and Penghu; the two figures represented increases of 27.39 percent and 34.43 percent in the number of voyages and passengers respectively over the same period of 2008.
Now the West Bank development has gone into full swing, using the deep “passages” that the provincial transportation sector has laid across the Straits and over the complex terrains of Fujian Province.
The construction of the economic zone started with transportation. In early 2004, when the provincial government proposed the West Bank development idea, it set forth the basic principle of “transportation comes first.” Since then the provincial transportation department and road builders have functioned as trailblazers for this special regional economic entity, literally laying the foundation for its development and expansion.
The “Passage” Primacy
Fujian Province on China’s southeastern coast faces Taiwan and is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao. Its geographical location confers an advantage for reaching out to the international market. However, the local geography is hostile to inland communications; the complex terrain of imposing mountains and rolling hills indented by gullies and basins fragments communications among its many cities, towns and villages, while the Meihua, Daiyun and Wuyi mountain ranges block the province’s access to its inland neighbors. Five years ago, when local and regional expressways across the country were interconnected into a giant, national traffic web, Fujian was just on the threshold of expressway construction. Meantime, it watched its neighboring Yangtze and Pearl river delta economic zones siphoning outside capital and human resources and growing into the economic powerhouses of the country.
As one of the first provinces opened to the outside world, Fujian was both ashamed and horrified to see the widening gap between it and its developed neighbors and the narrowing of the territory that demarked it from underdeveloped areas. If the situation continued, how much farther would Fujian fall behind in the regional and national economic development drive? How could it fulfill its role in the cause of national reunification? The Fujian people felt the imperative to break out of its isolated condition by opening intra- and inter-provincial passages. In early 2004, the provincial government decided to launch the West Bank Development Zone and commissioned the transportation department to go ahead and open “passages” for it.
In February 2005 Lu Zhangong, then secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, summarized the urgency of the “passage” issue. He pointed out that lack of “passages” had been a main obstacle to Fujian’s development; “passages” were crucial to activating Fujian’s advantages in opening to the outside world, and to the convergence of industries and improvement of people’s lives; they were also fundamental to the amelioration of Cross-Straits relations.
When the West Bank Development Zone was promoted into a national development strategy in May 2009, the “passage” issue for Fujian also became a central government concern. In the same month, Premier Wen Jiabao visited Fujian, and when inspecting Xiamen Harbor he pointed out, “The construction of a transport thoroughfare is very important for the West Bank Development Zone. It involves construction of three channels: one, the direct navigation channel from Xiamen and other port cities along the Fujian coast to Taiwan; two, a broad passage network composed of high-speed railways, expressways and air routes that link the entire province to inland areas; and three, the access of Fujian, Xiamen in particular, to the international market.” Fujian transportation and the West Bankcarry the hopes for the development of the province, now more than ever.
New Height, New Goals
The building of a modern transportation network in the province has accompanied every stage of the West Bank construction since the birth of the development zone in early 2004. Statistics show that during the five-year period from 2004 to 2008, Fujian’s total investment in the construction of expressways, national and provincial highways, and harbor and navigation facilities exceeded the aggregate of the previous 50 years. In 2006, the annual investment broke the RMB 20 billion mark, and continued to increase by an annual addition of RMB 10 billion in the following two years. During the five years, Fujian inaugurated more than 1,000 kilometers of expressway and basically formed a road transport network composed of expressways, national and provincial highways, and rural roads complete with stations and terminal facilities. By then the province had basically realized the goal of bringing all its county seats and county-level cities within an hour’s reach of the expressway system.
However, Fujian still lagged behind its coastal counterparts in transportation, in terms of development scale, speed and efficiency, as well as concepts and management mechanism. To meet the development need of the economic zone, the provincial communications department proposed in 2008 the idea of “Great Harbors, Great Passages, and Great Logistics” – an idea based on strategic integration, in accordance with the guidance of the Ministry of Communications and the provincial government.
The new round of transportation endeavors started with the reshuffling of the management mechanism. In August 2009, the reorganized provincial communications department was officially announced. Apart from taking over the range of services of its predecessor, the new administration is also in charge of urban subway and rail transport systems, taxi operation, development of a comprehensive transport system and modern logistics, and coordination with relevant departments. It supervises the planning and construction of local airports as well.
The new administration made an audacious commitment to “accomplish the 10-Year Plan within five years” in its newly revised general framework for transportation development, and adjusted accordingly the construction plans for the West Bank Expressway System, the provincial highway network and harbor facilities.
According to the general plan, between 2009 and 2012 the provincial investment in construction of expressways, national and provincial highways and harbor facilities will be increased at an annual rate of 20 percent, to accomplish a four-year total of RMB 200 billion. The aggregate breaks up into an annual average of RMB 30 billion for expressways, RMB 10 billion for highways and RMB 10 billion for harbors. The province hopes to fulfill an expressway mileage of 5,000 kilometers by 2015, completing the West Bank expressway framework five years ahead of schedule. Before 2012 it will build or renovate 3,000 kilometers of national highways, establish a rural trunk network that links every county and township, and finish 16,000 kilometers of cement village roads. It will also try to complete five comprehensive transportation hubs and depots before 2012 and strengthen construction of harbors, waterways, general-use wharves, and freight and passenger convergence and distribution channels in major port cities like Fuzhou and Xiamen.
“The strategic elevation of the West Bank Development Zone to the national status has pushed the transportation sector to new heights, requiring us to go beyond ourselves,” said Li Dejin, head of the Fujian Provincial Communications Department. In order to live up to the new status and meet the development needs of the West Bank in the years ahead, Li Dejin and his people will concentrate their efforts on realizing the idea of “Great Harbors, Great Passages, and Great Logistics.” The harbor integration plan will bring into existence the Fuzhou, Xiamen and Meizhou harbor clusters that feature optimized utilization and sharing of harbor resources. The “Great Passages” include two north-south trunk roads that connect respectively with the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas, and two east-west roads that reach out to central and western China. For the “Great Logistics” goal, the administration will introduce advanced foreign models and experience, promote integration of small local operations, and help create a few big logistics companies to serve as role models and leaders of the industry. Meanwhile, it will also speed up infrastructure construction to smooth the logistics flow both within and out of the province.
A New Chapter of the “Three Links”
For decades, the Taiwan Straits separated people on its east and west banks, who are closely related geographically, historically and culturally. In the past, locals crossed the Straits to and fro freely, just like they go from one side of a city to another in order to make a living. But then historical and political developments stopped them from doing it any more.
In 1979, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress put forth the “Three Links” proposal in its open letter to Taiwan compatriots. The letter called for the opening of postal, navigational (sea and air) and commercial links across the Straits and ushered in an initial period of Cross-Straits exchanges between Fujian and Taiwan.
This historic development pushed the provincial communications department’s goal of realizing the three links to the forefront of its agenda. In 1984, it organized related experts to study technical issues impacting the opening of direct sea links, such as the selection of harbors and routes, types of ship, and technical and operational differences on the two banks. The finished report, “The Study of Navigational Regulations and Policies on the Two Banks of the Taiwan Straits,” proposed a preliminary plan for direct navigation channels across the Straits, together with solutions to relevant issues.
In March 1992, the provincial government proposed to go ahead with the “Three Links” by first realizing them between Fujian and Taiwan. The general idea was to start them on a non-governmental basis – first with direct shipping, and then proceed along little by little toward the achievement of the final targets. Beginning that year, shipping companies in Fujian and Taiwan held five seminars, discussing direct shipping issues and related business items. Meanwhile, special wharves for direct shipping started construction in Mawei, Xiamen and Meizhou Island.
However, it was not until five years later that a major political breakthrough was made under the concerted effort of relevant organizations and shipping businesses across the Straits. Direct shipping between Fujian and Taiwan was realized on April 19, 1997, when container ships Shengda of the Fujian Xiamen Shipping Corporation and Huarong of the Fujian Foreign Trade Center Shipping Company sailed out of Xiamen and Fuzhou respectively toward Kaohsiung, bringing to a close a lapse of half a century. It was followed by the inauguration of irregular shipping services for general and bulk cargo on July 4, 1997. On January 2, 2001 direct passenger services went into operation between Fujian’s coastal areas and Taiwan’s Kinmen, Mazu and Penghu islands. On November 4, 2008, the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation concluded the Cross-Straits Navigation Agreement, by which the mainland opens 63 and Taiwan 11 harbors for direct shipping for the time being. By then, the three decades of efforts had resulted in the normal operation of direct freight and passenger navigation across the Taiwan Straits.
Direct shipping services have made things easy for travelers and businesspeople on both banks of the Straits and Fujian has been trying to improve its navigation facilities. On September 6, 2009, COSCO Star, a roll on/roll off ship, made its maiden voyage from Xiamen to Taichung, becoming the mainland’s first roro that operates a regular service to Taiwan.
The mainland province now operates direct container, general and bulk cargo and passenger services to Taiwan and maintains its leading role in the cross-Straits exchanges. Statistics show that from January to November of 2009, direct passenger voyages between Fujian and Taiwan amounted to 12,155, carrying a total of 1.277 million people across the Straits. The majority of these voyages – 12,130, carrying a total of 1.273 million passengers – were made between coastal Fujian and the three Taiwan islands of Kinmen, Mazu and Penghu; the two figures represented increases of 27.39 percent and 34.43 percent in the number of voyages and passengers respectively over the same period of 2008.
Now the West Bank development has gone into full swing, using the deep “passages” that the provincial transportation sector has laid across the Straits and over the complex terrains of Fujian Province.