First, though, Chen must penetrate a wall of mainland resistance. While the mayor of Xiamen welcomed the Taiwanese delegation, Beijing dismissed the overture as falling short of its hope for full-fledged ties with Taiwan proper, let alone its ultimate goal of reunification. After reluctantly approving the initial crossings, China has not given the go-ahead for future trips.
It has so far given approval for only 75 of its own citizens -- older people who were born in Kinmen -- to visit the island.
Taiwan has issued 3,000 exit permits to residents of Kinmen who want to visit China. Now it is up to China to grant or deny entry permits. Cracking down on smuggling is one way for Taiwan officials to raise the pressure on the mainland.
Farmers and fishermen in Fujian depend on the trade with Kinmen. If they can no longer sell their goods off the sides of boats to smugglers, Chen calculates, they will press their government to broaden the official trading channel.
"I know people here are complaining," Chen said.
"But it's not our issue. The ball is in Xiamen's court."
Such economic gamesmanship is lost on people like Fu, the farmer with the smuggling sideline. He knows only that he used to pick up his stash without a hitch: But now he finds himself in a cat-and-mouse game with the police.
Determined to foil them, Fu set out very early on a recent morning wearing a baggy windbreaker. The police do not search people, he said, so if he could slip the goods under the jacket before being detected he would be home free. A Taiwan soldier in a nearby lookout post paid him no heed.
But as Fu trudged along the beach, sidestepping the iron spikes that had been driven into the sand to fend off the Communists, he could not spot a single Chinese boat, friend or foe, in the morning mist.
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