On this episode of China Uncensored,
China wants to build the world's longest underwater tunnel—
to a country that it doesn't even recognize as a country.
Hi, welcome back to China Uncensored.
I'm your host, Chris Chappell.
Authoritarian regimes sure come up with the craziest schemes.
Like China's canal designed to transport billions of gallons of water
all the way from the south of the country to the north,
losing most of it to evaporation,
and wrecking ecosystems in the process.
That one was Chairman Mao's idea.
Or China's plans to build a giant city so big,
it's bigger than the entire population of England and France combined.
Just kidding they're not building "a" megacity.
They're building 19 of them.
And now Chinese engineers want to build
the world's longest underwater train tunnel.
Kind of like the Channel Tunnel,
that connects England and France.
Only much longer.
And less of a mutually agreed-upon decision.
Because, according to the South China Morning Post,
Chinese scientists are planning the world's longest train tunnel...
to connect mainland China to Taiwan.
Rumor has it, the Chinese Communist Party absolutely adores the plan!
So much so, in fact,
they're ready to start planning without Taiwan's cooperation.
Researchers told the South China Morning Post that
"it's possible Beijing would start work on the project
in a unilateral and largely symbolic move."
The 84-mile Taiwan Strait Tunnel
would link Pingtan in Mainland China...
...to Hsinchu in Taiwan.
And yes, Hsinchu happens to be where Taiwan has an army base—
where forces train hard to prepare for an aggressive,
unannounced visit by the People's Liberation Army.
Otherwise known as an invasion.
So there's a good chance that Taiwan might react negatively
if members of a Chinese tunnel drilling team start to
pop up out of the ground unannounced.
But due to engineering constraints, a tunnel this long
could probably never be completed without digging from both ends.
And when Taiwan's Minister Chen Min-tong,
who's responsible for relations between Taiwan and the mainland,
got wind that the plans for the tunnel were ready and the CCP
was anxious to break ground,
he immediately denounced the project,
saying "The proposal is part of China's consistent
united front propaganda and was made unilaterally."
Chen also said there had not been any bilateral
communication between China and Taiwan on the subject,
much less any kind of agreement.
But from the Communist Party's perspective,
an agreement isn't really necessary—
although it would make things go much smoother.
That's because the Party considers Taiwan
a province of the People's Republic of China,
and has vowed to seize control of it sooner or later,
by force if necessary.
Actually Chinese president Xi Jinping has ordered
the People's Liberation Army to be ready
for an invasion of Taiwan by 2020.
No wonder Taiwan is a bit suspicious of this underwater tunnel.
The Taiwanese minister also said that by proposing the tunnel,
China was "attacking Taiwan's potential for international space
using militaristic intimidation and trying to mislead the public
into thinking that this was a bilateral decision."
But even if Taiwan okayed the tunnel,
the project could still be fraught with some of the same problems
that have plagued China's own rail system.
Like the massive corruption that caused the Communist Party
to have to dissolve and restructure THE ENTIRE RAILWAYS MINISTRY.
And also, give the railways minister a suspended death sentence
for taking 10 million dollars in bribes.
But even if the tunnel is built without corruption,
it could still end up like some of
China's other grand-scale planning ideas
that disregarded the realities of the natural environment.
Like the Three-Gorges Dam—
the world's largest hydro-powered project,
that displaced 1.3 million people,
and is causing landslides,
droughts,
oh, and earthquakes.
Did I mention earthquakes?
A Chinese scientist—
who asked not to be named because who in their right mind
would put their name on this plan—
said the underwater tunnel would need to cross not one,
but two earthquake fault lines.
The scientist called the tunnel one of the "most challenging
civil engineering projects in the 21st century."
And that's because in addition to cutting across
two earthquake fault lines,
the tunnel has to slice through complex layers of rock,
including extremely hard granite sandwiched between layers
of far less stable sandstone and shale.
But even if they got it to work
without an earthquake getting in the way,
there's another engineering problem.
The tunnel is too long to pump air through.
So China would have to build not one but two artificial islands
in the Taiwan Strait, to pump fresh air down into the tunnel.
Fortunately, the Chinese regime
is good at building artificial islands.
Unfortunately, I think the Taiwan government might
object to building islands off the coast of Taiwan.
But even if Taiwan okays the artificial islands,
and the tunnel is built without massive corruption,
and it doesn't cause earthquakes,
there's another reason it might not be a great idea.
Remember how China has threatened to invade Taiwan,
if Taiwan ever declares independence?
Well, you know what's a really easy way to move tanks?
Trains!
Looks like there might be some wide loads coming through.
And before you go, it's time for me to answer another question
from a fan who supports China Uncensored
on the crowdfunding website Patreon.
James McKay asks: "Hi, Shelly."
Ugh, this one's for Shelley?!
"When you travel together,
who is considered your "carry on":
Chris or Matt?
Will you elaborate on how you stretch the team's
(likely very modest) travel and accommodation budget?"
Shelley, do you want to answer this one?
Sure Chris.
James, if any of us was the carry on, it would be me.
But I don't really want to be stuck in
an overhead compartment at 35,000 feet,
so I usually buy my own plane ticket.
How do we stretch our travel budget?
We try to get sponsorship for everything.
Airlines, as you might guess,
don't really want to sponsor anyone who undermines the CCP.
But we had a hotel sponsor us in Taiwan.
Otherwise, we usually stay in an airBNB or in someone's home.
We also borrow our camera gear from our friends whenever we can.
And if people take us out to dinner while we're on the road,
we don't complain.
Especially if it's hotpot.
Just saying.
Thanks Shelley.
Want to have your questions answered on the show?
Of course you do!
Join the China Uncensored 50-Cent Army,
by supporting the show with a dollar or more per episode
on the crowdfunding website Patreon.
And yes, you can ask Shelley questions, too.
The link is below.
Once again, I'm Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.
Thanks for watching.
Did you know we also make
a half-hour version of this show every week?
It's broadcast on the NTD network
in New York, LA, and San Francisco.
Plus you can it on our free app for Amazon FireTV,
Apple TV, and Roku.
Or visit ChinaUncensored.tv.
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