Residents of Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands can see the towers of China’s Xiamen even on a cloudy day. It was in Kinmen, just 4 miles from mainland China, that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) failed to wipe out its opposition before it fled to Taiwan during the closing phases of a brutal civil war 75 years ago. It was in Kinmen, on Aug. 23, that Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said the people of Taiwan will not submit to the CCP today.
“Taiwan is a country that ardently loves peace,” Lai said. “We are no longer trying to retake the mainland. But we are also unwilling to be ruled by the Communist Party. We want to continue a life of democracy, freedom, human rights, and rule of law.”
Though 75 years have passed since CCP leader Mao Zedong tried and failed to exterminate his opposition here, the embers of that conflict remain and are threatening to flicker to life once again.
Even as Lai delivered his message of peace, the CCP’s military conducted maneuvers in the skies and seas around Kinmen, underscoring what Taiwan’s government says are clear efforts to undermine regional peace and stability.
For residents of Kinmen, that threat is as real as ever. Though they can see mainland China, they are more than 100 miles from the main island of Taiwan, and the number of Chinese vessels in the waters around their islands grows with every passing month.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard says it expelled 835 Chinese vessels from Taiwan-controlled waters in the first six months of this year. The brewing crisis l