Taiwan Strait

Taiwan Strait
A map showing the Taiwan Strait Area Strait centre point: 24°48′40″N 119°55′42″E / 24.81111°N 119.92833°E / 24.81111; 119.92833Coordinates: 24°48′40″N 119°55′42″E / 24.81111°N 119.92833°E / 24.81111; 119.92833
Traditional Chinese	臺灣海峽 or 台灣海峽
Simplified Chinese	台湾海峡
Hokkien POJ	Tâi-ôan Hái-kiap
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Táiwān Hǎixiá Wu Romanization de平uae平 he上yah入 Hakka Romanization Thòi-vân Hói-hia̍p Yue: Cantonese Jyutping toi4waan1 hoi2haap3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tâi-ôan Hái-kiap Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Dài-uăng Hāi-hàp
Abbreviated as
Traditional Chinese	臺海 or 台海
Simplified Chinese	台海
Hokkien POJ	Tâi-hái
Literal meaning	Tai-Sea
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Táihǎi Wu Romanization de平he上 Hakka Romanization Thòihói Yue: Cantonese Jyutping toi4hoi2 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tâi-hái Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Dài-hāi
Second alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	烏水溝
Simplified Chinese	乌水沟
Hokkien POJ	O͘-chúi-kau
Transcriptions Southern Min Hokkien POJ O͘-chúi-kau

The Taiwan Strait, or Formosa Strait, is a 180 kilometres (110 mi) wide strait separating the island of Taiwan (of the Republic of China) from mainland China (People's Republic of China). The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is 130 km (81 mi) wide.

The Taiwan Strait is the section of sea between the Chinese mainland (in Asia) and the island of Taiwan.

Much of mainland 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 or Pescadores Islands lie in the east of the strait. Fishermen use the strait as a fishing resource. All of Fujian's rivers (the largest being the Min and, second-largest, the Jiulong) run into the strait, except the Ting. Taiwan's government administers Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu. The strait is on the continental shelf, it is almost entirely less than 150 m deep, with a brief ravine of that depth off the south-west of Taiwan. It hosts major shipping lanes including over a bank, around 25 m in depth (40–60km north of the Penghu archipelago).

The Strait has been the theatre for several military confrontations between the PLAN and ROCN since the last days of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 when the Kuomintang (KMT) forces led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek retreated across the Strait and relocated their government to their final stronghold of Taiwan. A theoretical median maritime border known as the cross-strait median (海峽中線) also exists on the water to prevent certain transportation from passing.