Taiwan Strait Taiwan Strait The Taiwan Strait, or Formosa Strait, is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan from mainland China. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. The Taiwan Strait is the section of sea between the Chinese mainland (in Asia) and the island of Taiwan. Much of China's Fujian Province is west of the strait, having the main islands of Kinmen, Xiamen (a major city overspilling into the mainland and including Gulangyu Island), Pingtan and Matsu just off its coast. The Penghu
Politics of the Republic of China community has led to a "political apartheid" which "harms the human rights, interests, and dignity of Taiwan’s people.". Despite the differences between Taiwan and mainland China, contact between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has grown significantly over the past decade. The ROC has continued to relax restrictions on unofficial contacts with the PRC, and cross-Strait interaction has mushroomed. Since 1987, when the ban on travel to mainland China was lifted, Taiwan residents have made more than 10 million trips to mainland China. The ROC Bureau of Foreign Trade estimates that indirect trade with mainland China reached about US$61.639