A senior adviser to the Chinese government is calling for a proposed road and rail tunnel between mainland China and itssouthern island province of Hainanto be put back on the agenda, to boost the island’s economy and help Beijing gain a foothold in theSouth China Sea
, covering 2021 to 2025, was released last November.Wu Shicun, the head of think tank the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said a cross-sea passage project should be added to China’s current or next five-year plan – the blueprint for nation’s development – and construction and funding preparations accelerated to allow it to be built by around 2033. The14th five-year plan
At present, the journey can take several hours by sea or air.He told the South China Morning Post a tunnel such as that proposed by his think tank could shorten the travel time to Hainan to about 10 minutes byhigh-speed rail Hainan is separated from the Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong province by the 30km-wide (19-mile) Qiongzhou Strait, which connects the Gulf of Tonkin to the island’s west to the South China Sea to its east.