HONG KONG, June 24 -- A water department official from China's Fujian province says he wants to go to Taiwan to offer badly needed water supplies to two outlying islands, the China-funded Wen Wei Po newspaper reported Monday. Fujian wants to build water pipelines to Jinmen and Matsu, just miles from the coastal province. The two small, heavily fortified outposts were the center of attention earlier this year during massive Chinese military exercises, some of which coincided with Taiwan's March 23 presidential election. China held the exercises, including a mock invasion of an island, to intimidate the independence movement in Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province. Now, according to recent Taiwan media reports, Chinese official Chen Guoliang is trying to extend a helping hand to the islands which at some points is much closer to Fujian province than to the administration in Taipei. Chen, head of the Fujian Water Conservancy and Water and Electricity Department, said he wants to go to Taiwan to sign an agreement to help relieve the longstanding water shortages on Jinmen and Matsu islands. Chen told Wen Wei Po he was keen to travel to Taiwan as soon as possible to negotiate an agreement with appropriate officials. There is absolutely no political motive in offering water to the Taiwan strongholds, Chen said. The offer is being made to ease the hardship caused by lack of water for 'compatriots' on Jinmen and Matsu, he said. The Fujian department has three possible plans for water pipelines.
Water from the pipelines would cost one-and-a-half times less than water now shipped to the outlying islands from Taiwan, located about 100 miles (161 kms) away, Chen said. Fujian is the ancestral home of many residents of the main Taiwan island, as well as Jinmen and Quemoy, which are located in the narrow Taiwan Strait that marks off the rival territories of China and Taiwan. The shortest distance from the main island of Quemoy to China is 7, 580 feet (2,310 meters). Matsu is in the northern portion of the Taiwan Strait and one of its smaller islands, Kaoteng, is only 5.5 nautical miles (9,250 meters) from China.
