Taiwan Strait#Median line

{{anchor|Etymology|Toponymy|Name}}

Former names of the Taiwan Strait include the {{nowrap|Formosa Strait}} or {{nowrap|Strait of Formosa,}} from a dated name for Taiwan; the {{nowrap|Strait of Fokien}} or Fujian, from the Chinese province forming the strait's western shore;{{sfnp|EB|1879|p=415}} and the {{nowrap|Black Ditch}}, a calque of the strait's name in Hokkien and Hakka.

File:Taiwan Rivers Sediments.jpg

The Taiwan Strait is the body of water separating Fujian Province from Taiwan Island. The international agreement does not define the Taiwan Strait but places its waters within the South China Sea, whose northern limit runs from Cape Fugui (the northernmost point on Taiwan Island; Fukikaku) to Niushan Island to the southernmost point of Pingtan Island and thence westward along the parallel {{nowrap|25° 24′}} N. to the coast of Fujian Province.{{sfnp|IHO|1953|loc=§49}} The draft for a new edition of the IHO's Limits of Oceans and Seas does precisely define the Taiwan Strait, classifying it as part of the North Pacific Ocean.{{sfnp|IHO|1986|loc=[https://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/com_wg/S-23WG/S-23WG_Misc/Draft_1986/S-23_Draft_1986_North_Pacific.pdf Ch. 7]}} It makes the Taiwan Strait a body of water between the East and South China Seas and delimits it:{{sfnp|IHO|1986|loc=[https://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/com_wg/S-23WG/S-23WG_Misc/Draft_1986/S-23_Draft_1986_North_Pacific.pdf Ch. 7.2]}}

{{Blockquote|On the North: A line joining the coast of China {{nowrap|(25° 42′ N -}} {{nowrap|119° 36′ E)}} eastward to Xiang Cape {{nowrap|(25° 40′ N -}} {{nowrap|119° 47′ 10″ E),}} the northern extremity of Haitan Island, and thence to Fugui Cape {{nowrap|(25° 17′ 45″ N -}} {{nowrap|121° 32′ 30″ E),}} the northern extremity of Taiwan Island (the common limit with the East China Sea, see 7.3).

On the East: From Fugui Cape southward, along the western coast of Taiwan Island, to Eluan Cape {{nowrap|(21° 53′ 45″ N -}} {{nowrap|120° 51′ 30″ E),}} the southern extremity of this island.

On the South: A line joining Eluan Cape northwestward, along the southern banks of Nanao Island, to the southeastern extremity of this island {{nowrap|(23° 23′ 35″ N -}} {{nowrap|117° 07′ 15″ E);}} thence westward, along the southern coast of Nanao Island, to Changshan Head {{nowrap|(23° 25′ 50″ N -}} {{nowrap|116° 56′ 25″ E),}} the western extremity of this island; and thence a line joining Changshan Head westward to the mouth of the Hanjiang River {{nowrap|(23° 27′ 30″ N -}} {{nowrap|116° 52′ E),}} on the coast of China (the common limit with the South China Sea, see 6.1).

On the West: From the mouth of Hanjiang River northeastward, along the coast of China, to position {{nowrap|25° 42′ N -}} {{nowrap|119° 36′ E.}}}}

The entire strait is on Asia's continental shelf. It is almost entirely less than {{convert|150|m|sp=us|abbr=on|ft fathom}} deep, with a short ravine of that depth off the southwest coast of Taiwan. As such, there are many islands in the strait. The largest and most important islands off the coast of Fujian are Xiamen, Gulangyu, Pingtan (the "Haitan" of the IHO delineation), Kinmen, and Matsu. The first three are controlled by the People's Republic of China (PRC); the last two by the Republic Of China (ROC). Within the strait lie the Penghu or the Pescadores, also controlled by the ROC. There is a major underwater bank {{convert|40|-|60|km|sp=us|abbr=on}} north of the Penghu Islands.[http://map.openseamap.org Sea depth map].

All of Fujian Province's rivers except the Ting run into the Taiwan Strait. The largest two are the Min and the Jiulong.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

A theoretical "median line", also known as the Davis line, was defined down the middle of the strait by US Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. in 1955, after which the US pressured both sides not to cross it.{{cite web |last1=Micallef |first1=Joseph V. |title=Why Taiwan Will Be at the Center of the China-US Rivalry |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/opinions/2021/01/06/why-taiwan-will-be-center-of-china-us-rivalry.html |website=www.military.com |date=6 January 2021 |publisher=Military.com |access-date=10 January 2021}} As a tacit understanding, it never gained official or legal status.{{Cite book |last=Zhao |first=Suisheng |title=The Taiwan Question in Xi Jinping's Era: Beijing's Evolving Taiwan Policy and Taiwan's Internal and External Dynamics |publisher=Routledge |year=2024 |isbn=9781032861661 |editor-last=Zhao |editor-first=Suisheng |editor-link=Suisheng Zhao |location=London and New York |pages= |chapter=Is Beijing's Long Game on Taiwan about to End? Peaceful Unification, Brinksmanship, and Military Takeover |doi=}}{{Rp|page=19}} The PRC has never recognized the median line.{{Rp|page=19}} Aircraft from Taiwan crossed it frequently until the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1958.{{citation |url=http://www.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1010/1/9/2/101019206.html?coluid=5&kindid=23&docid=101019206&mdate=0711085827 |script-title=zh:大公報文章："海峽中線"應該廢除 |website=chinareviewnews.com}}. {{in lang|zh}} Between 1954 and 2019, generally did not cross{{Who|date=December 2024}} the area, with military craft crossing three times in that period.{{Rp|page=19}}

In 2019, Taiwan's defense ministry provided coordinates for the median line. The ministry recognizes the line as running from 27°N, 122°E in the north to 23°N, 118°E on the southern end.{{Cite web |date=2019-07-30 |title=Taiwan Strait median line coordinates revealed |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3755034 |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=Taiwan News|author-last1=Huang|author-first1=Tzu-ti}}

In 2019, PLA warplanes crossed the median line for the first time since 1999.{{Cite web |date=2019-04-01 |title=Taiwan will forcefully expel PLA warplanes next time: Tsai Ing-wen |author-first1=Lawrence|author-last1=Chung|author2=Liu Zhen|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3004119/chinese-jets-incursion-across-taiwan-strait-beijings-way |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Cole |first=J. Michael |date=2020-09-22 |title=China Ends ‘Median Line’ in the Taiwan Strait: The Start of a Crisis? |url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/china-ends-%E2%80%98median-line%E2%80%99-taiwan-strait-start-crisis-169402 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=The National Interest |language=en}} In 2020, the PRC Foreign Ministry explicitly denied the existence of a median line and no longer act as if such a line exists.{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Yimou |last2=Torode |first2=Greg |date=August 25, 2022 |title=China's navy begins to erase imaginary Taiwan Strait median line |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-navy-begins-erase-imaginary-taiwan-strait-median-line-2022-08-25/ |access-date=December 3, 2024 |work=Reuters}}{{Rp|page=19}}

Each year, Taiwan's rivers carry up to 370 million tons of sediments into the sea, including 60 to 150 million tons deposited into the Taiwan Strait.{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=J. P. |last2=Liu |first2=C. S. |last3=Xu |first3=K. H. |last4=Milliman |first4=J. D. |last5=Chiu |first5=J. K. |last6=Kao |first6=S. J. |last7=Lin |first7=S. W. |title=Flux and fate of small mountainous rivers derived sediments into the Taiwan Strait |journal=Marine Geology |date=20 December 2008 |volume=256 |issue=1 |pages=65–76 |doi=10.1016/j.margeo.2008.09.007|bibcode=2008MGeol.256...65L |url=http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw//handle/246246/173695 |access-date= |language=en |issn=0025-3227|url-access=subscription }} During the past ten thousand years, 600 billion tons of riverine sediments have been deposited in the Taiwan Strait, locally forming a lobe up to 40 m thick in the southern part of the Taiwan Strait.

File:Taiwan Strait Sediment Distribution.png

{{Further|History of Fujian|History of Taiwan|History of Penghu}}

File:Post-Glacial_Sea_Level.png

The Strait mostly separated the Han culture of the Chinese mainland from Taiwan Island's aborigines for millennia, although the Hakka and Hoklo traded and migrated across it. European explorers, principally the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch, also took advantage of the strait to establish forward bases for trade with the mainland during the Ming; the bases were also used for raiding both the Chinese coast and the trading ships of rival countries.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Widespread Chinese migration across the strait began in the late Ming. During the Qing conquest, Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) expelled the Dutch and established the Kingdom of Tungning in 1661, planning to launch a reconquest of the mainland in the name of the Southern Ming branches of the old imperial dynasty. Dorgon and the Kangxi Emperor were able to consolidate their control over southern mainland China; Koxinga found himself limited to raiding across the strait. His grandson Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing after his admiral lost the 1683 Battle of the Penghu Islands in the middle of the strait.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Japan seized the Penghu Islands during the First Sino-Japanese War and gained control of Taiwan at its conclusion in 1895. Control of the eastern half of the strait was used to establish control of the southern Chinese coast during the Second World War. The strait protected Japanese bases and industry in Taiwan from Chinese attack and sabotage, but aerial warfare reached the island by 1943. The 1944 Formosa Air Battle gave the United States Pacific Fleet air supremacy from its carrier groups and Philippine bases; subsequently, the bombing was continuous until Japan's surrender in 1945.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} The rapid advance of the Communist PLA in 1949 provoked the government's retreat across the Taiwan Strait.

In the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War, People's Republic of China and Republic of China had multiple brief armed conflicts on the Taiwan Strait, consequently named the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, and the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis. These confrontations did not result in large-scale military conflicts between China and Taiwan. In the 21st century, the Cross-Strait relations stabilized, leading to the establishment of Three Links on 15 December 2008, with the commencement of direct commercial flights, shipping, and post across the Taiwan Strait.

On 25 May 2002, China Airlines Flight 611 broke up in mid-air and crashed into the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.{{cite journal |date=25 February 2005 |title=In-Flight Breakup Over the Taiwan Strait Northeast of Makung, Penghu Island, China Airlines Flight CI611, Boeing 747-200, B-18255, May 25, 2002 |url=https://www.ttsb.gov.tw/media/3090/ci611_report_english_vol_1.pdf |journal=Aviation Occurrence Report |location=Taipei, Taiwan |publisher=Aviation Safety Council |volume=1 |issue=ASC-AOR-05-02-001 |access-date=11 February 2017}} On 26 February 2022, China denounced the sailing of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet {{sclass|Arleigh Burke|destroyer|0}} guided-missile destroyer {{USS|Ralph Johnson}} through the Taiwan Strait as a "provocative act".{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-warship-transits-sensitive-taiwan-strait-2022-02-26/|title=China says U.S. warship sailing in Taiwan Strait 'provocative'|agency=Reuters|date=26 February 2022|access-date=26 February 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227003120/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-warship-transits-sensitive-taiwan-strait-2022-02-26/|archive-date=27 February 2022}}

Since 2018 China has denied that the concept of international waters applies to the Taiwan Strait.{{Cite news|url= https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202206/t20220613_10702460.html| title=Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on June 13, 2022|publisher= Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802205257/https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202206/t20220613_10702460.html|archive-date= 2 August 2022 |date= 13 June 2022| access-date= 16 August 2022|url-status=live}} China does not claim sovereignty over the entire strait but seeks to regulate what it views as "support for the Taiwan authorities and muscle-flexing against the mainland".{{Cite news|url= https://www.iiss.org/blogs/analysis/2022/07/narrowing-the-differences-between-china-and-the-us-over-the-taiwan-strait| title= Narrowing the differences between China and the US over the Taiwan Strait |author= Lynn Kuok|publisher= International Institute for Strategic Studies|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220716195325/https://www.iiss.org/blogs/analysis/2022/07/narrowing-the-differences-between-china-and-the-us-over-the-taiwan-strait|archive-date= 16 July 2022 |date= 13 July 2022| access-date= 16 August 2022|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url= https://www.economist.com/china/2022/06/23/america-and-china-spar-over-the-taiwan-strait| title=America and China spar over the Taiwan Strait |publisher= The Economist|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816011712/https://www.economist.com/china/2022/06/23/america-and-china-spar-over-the-taiwan-strait|archive-date= 16 August 2022 |date= 23 June 2022| access-date= 16 August 2022|url-status=live}} This position has led to concerns from American, Australian, and French officials and objection from Taiwan.{{cite news |last1=Crowe |first1=David |last2=Hartcher |first2=Peter |title=Marles accuses China of breaching UN rules with Taiwan exercises |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/marles-accuses-china-of-breaching-un-rules-with-taiwan-exercises-20220805-p5b7hp.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=5 August 2022 |language=en}}{{Cite news|url= https://en.mofa.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=1328&s=98011 |title=MOFA solemnly reiterates that the Taiwan Strait constitutes international waters, refuting false claims made by Chinese officials during recent meetings with the US |publisher= Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803211842/https://en.mofa.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=1328&s=98011|archive-date= 3 August 2022 |date= 14 June 2022| access-date= 16 August 2022|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url= https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2022/07/11/2003781531 |title=Strait belongs to all: top French officer |author=Yang Cheng-yu, William Hetherington |publisher= Taipei Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713093153/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2022/07/11/2003781531|archive-date= 13 July 2022 |date= 11 July 2022| access-date= 16 August 2022|url-status=live}} "International waters" is technically not defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and there is no high seas corridor within the Taiwan Strait, but transit rights mimicking high seas such as innocent passage and freedom of navigation are generally allowed within exclusive economic zones.

Fishermen have used the strait as a fishing resource since time immemorial. In the modern world, it is the gateway used by ships of almost every kind on passage to and from nearly all the important ports in Northeast Asia.{{Citation|last1=Chen|first1=Jinhai|title=Optimization on Arrangement of Precaution Areas Serving for Ships' Routeing in the Taiwan Strait Based on Massive AIS Data|date=2016|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-40973-3_12|work=Data Mining and Big Data|volume=9714|pages=123–133|editor-last=Tan|editor-first=Ying|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-40973-3_12|isbn=978-3-319-40972-6|access-date=2021-11-20|last2=Lu|first2=Feng|last3=Li|first3=Mingxiao|last4=Huang|first4=Pengfei|last5=Liu|first5=Xiliang|last6=Mei|first6=Qiang|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |editor2-last=Shi|editor2-first=Yuhui|url-access=subscription}} Chinese vessels often trespass into Taiwanese territorial waters to fish or dredge sand, leading to interceptions by the Coast Guard Administration as well as seizures, confiscations, and fines.{{cite web |last1=Hsin-po |first1=Huang |last2=Xie |first2=Dennis |title=Coast guard should benefit from fines on intruders: lawmakers |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/11/09/2003746621 |website=www.taipeitimes.com |date=9 November 2020 |publisher=Taipei Times |access-date=10 November 2020}}

Taiwan is building major wind farms in the strait.{{cite web |title=Greater Changhua Offshore Wind Farms |url=https://www.power-technology.com/projects/greater-changhua-offshore-wind-farms/ |website=www.power-technology.com |publisher=Power Technology |access-date=10 November 2020}}

{{Gallery

|width=200

|height=110

|title=

|File:119.91252E 24.77447N 117.5.png|Looking east from Asia to the Pacific

|File:119.91252E 24.77447N 297.5.png|Looking west from the Pacific to Asia

|File:119.91252E 24.77447N 207.5.png|Looking south from the East to South China Sea

|File:119.91252E 24.77447N 27.5.png|Looking north from the South to East China Sea

}}

{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• China Airlines Flight 611
• Cross-Strait relations
• List of Pacific typhoon seasons
• Luzon Strait
• Panama Canal
• Suez Canal
• Taijiang National Park
• Western Taiwan Straits Economic Zone

}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{citation |contribution=Formosa |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IX |editor-last=Baynes |editor-first=Thomas Spencer |display-editors=0 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |date=1879 |ref={{harvid|EB|1879}} |pages=415–17 }}.
• {{citation |url=https://iho.int/uploads/user/pubs/standards/s-23/S-23_Ed3_1953_EN.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://iho.int/uploads/user/pubs/standards/s-23/S-23_Ed3_1953_EN.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-23 |url-status=live |title=S-23: Limits of Oceans and Seas |edition=3rd |date=1953 |location=Monaco |publisher=International Hydrographic Organization |ref={{harvid|IHO|1953}} }}.
• {{citation |url=https://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/com_wg/S-23WG/S-23WG_Misc/Draft_1986/Draft_1986.htm |title=S-23: Limits of Oceans and Seas |edition=4th (draft) |date=1986 |location=Monaco |publisher=International Hydrographic Organization |ref={{harvid|IHO|1986}} |access-date=21 March 2019 |archive-date=12 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412231804/http://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/com_wg/S-23WG/S-23WG_Misc/Draft_1986/Draft_1986.htm |url-status=dead }}.

{{Refend}}

{{Wiktionary|Taiwan Strait|Formosa Strait}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Taiwan Strait}}

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Category:Bodies of water of Fujian