BEIJING, June 24 -- An undersea cable will link the Chinese mainland and Taiwan for the first time, increasing the speed of information exchange by up to 10 times, China Telecom said Tuesday.

    Preparation work has been finished for the construction of the first cross-Straits undersea telecommunications cable project linking the mainland's Xiamen city and Taiwan's outlying Kinmen island, known as Jinmen on the mainland.

    After its approval and construction, the undersea cable could be put into operation as early as the end of this year.

    China Telecom said it will cooperate with Taiwan counterpart Chunghwa Telecom. Each will invest 100 million yuan (14.6 million U.S. dollars) to build the 50 km to 60 km undersea cable.

    "As of now, telecommunication across the Straits transits via a third place like Hong Kong, Australia or Japan. With the new cable linking, the speed of information exchange will be much faster," said a senior China Telecom official surnamed Zhang.

    Experts said a direct cable between the two sides would improve the stability and reliability of telecommunication. It would also create $600 billion yuan in potential business opportunities for Taiwanese companies in the mainland's 3G market.

    Wu Mingzhe, director of Taiwan Affairs Office of Xiamen municipal government said that building a bridge or tunnel between Xiamen and Kinmen was still being discussed.

    "Taiwan said the status quo is that it's not the best time for building the bridge, but both sides are keeping in touch on this topic," Wu said.

    Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou proposed building a bridge between the mainland's Xiamen and Taiwan's Kinmen last August. He also said construction could be finished within four years and would turn "the former battlefield to a peaceful square".

    Xiamen and Kinmen are the closest places to the mainland and Taiwan. About 4,000 Kinmen people live in Xiamen, and own about 10,000 apartments.

    Sailing contest

    Twenty-two yachts will take part in a cross-Straits sailing contest on July 30, said Xiamen sports bureau. Sailors from the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan will begin in Xiamen, and finish at Taiwan's Tainan city.

    Another historic cross-Straits swimming contest will be held on Aug 15. About 50 mainland swimmers and 50 Taiwan swimmers will set off from Xiamen and finish in Kinmen.

    The Taiwan Affairs Office in Xiamen said the Kinmen county government had already removed 250 m of spear-like anti-landing barricades from its beach to allow swimmers easier access to the water.

    (Source: China Daily)