Cross-strait swim sparks legality row
By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-06-20 05:29

GUANGZHOU: The legality of swimming across the Qiongzhou Strait a feat which may have won a six- and eight-year old a place in the Guinness World Records Book has sparked yet another row after the latest attempt had to be aborted when officials declared it was illegal.

The latest swimming contest was called off just hours ahead of race by 27 amateur swimmers.

Earlier this month, the two Shenzhen elementary school pupils swam the 20 kilometres stretch of water from Xuwen, a small county in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, to the Hainan island provincial capital of Haikou.

But the children made their record splash without the approval of the Zhanjiang Municipal Marine Bureau and before officialdom could intervene. Their swim has been proposed, by their parents, for entry into the Guinness World Records.

"The Qiongzhou Strait is a very busy one; without the approval of the whole swimming plan and the arrangement of the local government, the journey would be very dangerous and would disturb the set sea-routes of the vessels," a Xuwen County government official, who identified himself only by his surname of Li, told China Daily.

A growing number of people, he said, have been trying to swim the strait, posing a hazard to themselves and shipping and forcing the local government to step in.

The 30 vessels rented for the accompanying flotilla for the latest contest had not been examined by the Municipal Fishing Administration of Zhanjiang, and the administration was wholly justified in banning it on safety grounds, said Li.

But Li added that the municipal government of Zhanjiang and the county government of Xuwen will give permission for the contest to go ahead in the future if the necessary safety measures are met.

One of the swimming contest organizers, Feng Ji, claimed the contest had been given the nod by the Haikou municipal authorities, but not those on the Zhanjiang or Xuwen County side.

(China Daily 06/20/2005 page3)

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