BEIJING (Reuters) -&nbsp;China&nbsp;launched its&nbsp;first&nbsp;high-speed rail&nbsp;line&nbsp;that will travel across&nbsp;several bays and skim along the coast of the southeastern province of Fujian&nbsp;near&nbsp;the&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;Strait, state media reported on Thursday.
A&nbsp;bullet&nbsp;train&nbsp;departed from Fuzhou, the capital of east&nbsp;China's Fujian province Thursday morning, setting up the opening of the 277-km (172-mile) Fuzhou-Xiamen-Zhangzhou railway, Xinhua reported.
It is&nbsp;China's&nbsp;first&nbsp;cross-sea, rapid&nbsp;line&nbsp;with&nbsp;bullet&nbsp;trains that will travel over bridges across&nbsp;three coastal bays and hit top speeds of 350 km per hour (218 mph), state media said, citing&nbsp;China&nbsp;State Railway Group Co Ltd, the country's railway operator.
Travel time between Fuzhou and Xiamen, an economic hub and popular tourist destination, will be under an hour.
China&nbsp;Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co Ltd designed the railway project. By 2022,&nbsp;China&nbsp;had 42,000 km of operational high-speed railway, and the length of high-speed rail regularly operating at 350 km per hour&nbsp;neared 3,200 km as of June 2022.
China&nbsp;recently announced details of its plan to turn Fujian into a zone for integrated development with&nbsp;Taiwan, which sits opposite the province.
China&nbsp;is hoping the link will enhance investment opportunities and make travel easier.
A Chinese government official said an integrated multidimensional transportation network has been built in Fujian that "will make it technically possible to construct a high-speed transport passage linking the province with&nbsp;Taiwan," according to state media.
Taiwan&nbsp;has dismissed previous Chinese plans to link the island to the rail network, which would require construction of the world's longest undersea&nbsp;tunnel beneath the&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;Strait.
Asked about the comments,&nbsp;Taiwan's&nbsp;China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said such infrastructure projects could not be "unilaterally decided", adding that even&nbsp;China's overseas Belt and Road investments needed to be discussed with host countries.
China&nbsp;cut off a formal talks mechanism with&nbsp;Taiwan's government in 2016.
Separately, earlier this week&nbsp;China&nbsp;unveiled its&nbsp;first&nbsp;commercial suspended monorail&nbsp;line&nbsp;in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.
The monorail, covering 10.5 km (6.5 miles), is fully automated and only requires human operation in an emergency,&nbsp;China&nbsp;Daily reported.
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(Reporting by Bernard Orr and Beijing newsroom; Additional reporting by Jeanny Kao and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Miral Fahmy)

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China launches first cross-sea bullet train line near Taiwan Strait