A project to draw water from the Chinese mainland and transport it to Kinmen county in Taiwan and plans to develop Kinmen into a duty-free island have put the county at an important strategic spot in cross-Straits relations, Taiwan's Want Daily reported on Jan 18.

Kinmen aims to transform its role from a cross-Straits military frontier to a forerunner for common and peaceful cross-Straits development, according to the newspaper.

It also says the Taiwan authority shall include Kinmen and the Matsu islands into the peaceful development pilot zone to expand communication and cooperation with the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone in Fujian province on the Chinese mainland. The two sides are expected to set up a free trade zone for economic affairs as a cross-Straits free trade model.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai