Taiwan’s cold war island begins to thaw
Kinmen, just 2km from the Chinese mainland, has been on the front line of cross-strait tensions since 1949. Now, along with the light from the shimmering skyscrapers on the horizon, some warmth is beginning to shine through
Mounds of sand sit beneath a row of pile drivers on Dadeng Island, where the Chinese city of Xiamen ( 廈門 ) is building a new airport on reclaimed land.
Syril Hung sighs, awestruck. The retired editor is looking through binoculars from Kinmen, a nearby island that belongs to Taiwan. On a clear day like this, sand-dredging barges can be seen working non-stop in the 2km stretch of water separating the two. “My heart is heavy,” he says. “It feels like they are getting closer and closer. This is the sadness of living next to a big country.”
For decades, Kinmen has grappled with being the part of Taiwan closest to mainland China; nearer than it is to Taiwan. It is a 30-minute ferry ride from the mainland, but an hour’s flight from Taipei.
Taiwan scrambles jets, navy as China’s aircraft carrier enters Taiwan Strait
Kinmen, all of 153 sq km, has long been on the front line of cross-strait tensions that this week led to Taipei scrambling jets and navy vessels to monitor a Chinese aircraft carrier group in the Taiwan Strait.
It bore the brunt of bloody battles in October 1949 when the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) soldiers based in Taiwan beat back the Communist People’s Liberation Army, keeping the island in KMT hands.
In later years, it was a military base where Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek stationed much of his army to retake the mainland. Kinmen suffered numerous small incursions, 20 years of shelling by the mainland, and decades of direct military rule (1949-1992) from Taiwan. During a six-week artillery barrage in 1958, 500,000 rounds of mortar rained down on its tiny landmass.
