China is planning to build a highway that stretches all the way from the Chinese capital city, Beijing, to the Taiwanese capital city, Taipei, via the city of Fuzhou, China, that looks across to the island which Beijing considers a breakaway province. A 220-kilometre tunnel (125 kilometres of it plunges underwater) will be constructed across the Taiwan Strait to link the 2 nations (or 1 as Beijing denies the existence of an independent Taiwanese nation and considers it a Chinese territory). Once this massive project is completed, it will be the longest ever underwater tunnel in the world, measured from both total length and also the submarine section. Currently, the underwater tunnel which spans across the seabed in the greatest extent is the Channel Tunnel, which links the United Kingdom and France via the English Channel. The world's longest underwater tunnel in overall length (including on land and the submarine section) is the Seikan rail tunnel, which links the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. Isn't that great?

-- Edited by europology at 15:49, 2005-02-13