Straits bridge 'good for trade'

The proposed bridge linking Jinmen, one of the outlying islands near Taiwan, to Xiamen, southeast of the Chinese mainland, as proposed by the Taiwan authorities, would be a landmark in cross-Straits relations, Taiwan affairs experts said yesterday.

The government will consider building the bridge and complete a proposal by the end of the year on the feasibility of its construction, Taiwan "president" Ma Ying-jeou was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday in the two sides' former battlefield of Jinmen.

If the bridge project, stalled for many years, was feasible it would facilitate development of cross-Straits trade, experts said.