The Taiwan Strait, measured

Transcript

1. 0:01Iris CalderThis is The Briefing, from The North China Times. Tonight: the Taiwan Strait, measured.
2. 0:07Iris CalderThe strait separates the island of Taiwan from the coast of Fujian province, on the Chinese mainland. Our Asia correspondent, Nora Lindqvist, has the measurements.
3. 0:18Nora LindqvistAt its narrowest, the strait is about one hundred and thirty kilometres wide.
4. 0:24Nora LindqvistBut some of the islands Taiwan governs lie far closer to the mainland. Kinmen sits just a few kilometres off the city of Xiamen.
5. 0:34Iris CalderThe strait is not only a line between two governments. It is also one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
6. 0:41Nora LindqvistForty-eight per cent of the world's container ships passed through the strait in twenty twenty-two, according to a Bloomberg analysis of ship-tracking data.
7. 0:51Iris CalderThe water has divided the two sides since nineteen forty-nine, when the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan.
8. 0:59Nora LindqvistIn nineteen seventy-one, the United Nations seat of China passed to the People's Republic.
9. 1:06Nora LindqvistIn nineteen ninety-six, Taiwan held its first direct presidential election. And in twenty twenty-four, it elected Lai Ching-te.
10. 1:15Iris CalderToday, about twenty-three point four million people live in Taiwan, on the far side of those hundred and thirty kilometres.
11. 1:24Iris CalderThat was The Briefing. Thank you for watching The North China Times.