President Ma Ying-jeou, the initiator of a detente with the island's former bitter rival China, broke ground during a ceremony held on Kinmen -- a fortified island group just six kilometres (four miles) from southeast China's port city of Xiamen at the nearest point.

The 5.4-kilometre (3.35 miles) bridge linking Kinmen proper and Liehyu, which is better known as Little Kinmen, is expected to cost Tw$7.5 billion ($250 million) and is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

Local government officials said the construction increases the feasibility of building another much-discussed bridge connecting Liehyu and Xiamen.

If the project is realised, it would be another strong symbol of the fast warming ties between Taipei and Beijing, since the area is so far best known as the scene of the two sides' bloodiest battle in the past 60 years.

The proximity to the mainland that now makes a bridge a real possibility placed Kinmen in mortal danger just a few decades ago.

The Chinese army fired more than 470,000 shells on Kinmen and several other islets in a 44-day bombardment beginning on August 23, 1958, killing a total of 618 servicemen and civilians and injuring more than 2,600.

As late as the 1970s, China still bombarded the island, although by then the shells were stuffed with propaganda leaflets.

However, tensions across the Taiwan Strait have eased since China-friendly Ma came to power in 2008, pledging to boost trade links and allow in more mainland tourists.

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