Veteran marathon swimmer Wang Han, the first Chinese to have swum across 12 major straits, is planning to challenge the Taiwan Strait.
The 50-year-old said he had long had his eyes on the 250km swim, a crossing that will be made more difficult by complex sea currents and the presence of sharks.
'I first applied to swim across the Taiwan Strait as early as 1996,' Wang said in Taipei yesterday.
But because civilian exchanges between the two sides at that time were not as active as today, he said his application was turned down by the government-funded Straits Exchange Foundation, set up in early 1990s to represent Taiwan in dealing with the mainland in the absence of formal ties.
After years of efforts, his plan now had the blessing of the two sides, due mainly to its non-political nature and its sole purpose of promoting civilian exchanges, he said.
'The Mainland Affairs Council approved my plan in January,' he said, referring to the island's top mainland policy planning body. He said the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing had agreed with his proposal and had asked relevant departments to work out details of the plan.
Wang said he expected the mainland to finalise details this month to get the first swim across the Taiwan Strait under way.